Hidden Leaf Prep School
by skyblue.x
Summary: This by far had been one of the worst days of her life. From getting knocked out, to getting her first crush, then finding out said crush already has ANOTHER crush, to being insulted by Sasuke, to crying over Sasuke...and now THIS? Poor, poor Hinata. SxH.
1. Chapter 1

Hello all! This is an idea that just popped into my head a couple of days ago. I know it's not the most original idea but I've got a few twists to make it different from all the other ones. So without further ado, here is the first chapter of the story! And the pairings will become pretty clear soon enough.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

**Chapter One **

-o-

_Ok…that's it…Just breathe…you'll be fine…after all, it was YOUR decision to come here_, a tall, pale -eyed girl kept telling herself. _Nothing bad is going to happen to you on your first day. At least...I really, really, hope so._

The blue-haired teenager was beyond nervous. So nervous in fact, she was shaking like a leaf. Her hands were sweaty, and her breathing was uneven. She had half a mind to run far, far away and never come back.

As Hyuuga Hinata stared up at the humungous brown gates of her new school, she felt like she was going to throw up her lunch. What a way to start off her day.

She pressed the small telecom button situated on the stone wall and waited. The shy Hyuuga jumped about three feet in the air when a loud, crackly voice emanated through the speaker box.

"Yes?" It crackled loudly.

"I-I'm here to see T-Tsunade-sama." She squeaked. "I-I'm the new t-transfer s-student she was supposed to m-meet yesterday, but we were… d-delayed."

There were the unmistakable sounds of papers being shuffled, and then silence. "Ahh. Yes. Hyuuga Hinata, is it?"

"H-Hai."

"Come on in."

The big, copper gates embedded with the Konoha symbol creaked open. They were about five times taller than Hinata and five times as wide. As she nervously walked through them, she couldn't help but feel that she walking through the gates of hell.

It wasn't hell. But it came pretty close.

As she walked through the gates, she saw several Ninja dressed in ANBU uniform standing on the other end of the gates. And she could make out more of them posted randomly throughout the school. Faintly, she wondered why there was so much security; after all, it was just a school.

_Right. Just a school. It's the best Ninja school in all of fire country!_

The stone-lined pathway she was standing on wound through trees until it reached a big, stone building. She guessed that this was the main school building.

The fact that this was one of the most prestigious schools wasn't what scared Hinata. After all, she was smart, or else she wouldn't have gotten in here. No. What scared her the most was that these kids had to be superrich, and most likely they were super-snobby too.

How on earth was a shy girl like her supposed to fit in _here_?

At her old school in Wind Country she'd been invisible, never drawing attention to herself. Not that many people even knew she existed; she rarely spoke in class, and never really had that many friends. Unfortunately, that meant she'd been the target of severe bullying more than once. But when her good grades got herself noticed by the headmaster, her father immediately had her transferred here, to her home country.

On the big, grassy lawn Hinata saw different clumps of kids standing at various spots all scattered around the lawn. On one side, she saw a group that was mainly made up of girls, all giggling and pointing to the other side of the lawn, where the some boys were engaged in a fierce game of soccer.

She saw now that some of them had completely shed their shirts, which might be why they were receiving so much attention from the female population. And they were a well-built group of boys as well. Hinata blushed and kept her eyes firmly on ground as she both walked and prayed that no one would notice her.

She kept walking, if no one noticed her, then no one would ask her any questions, and she wouldn't have to speak to any of these self-absorbed kids.

Her plan was pretty much working until she reached the spot on the lawn where the guys where playing soccer. A sudden loud, male voice shouted at her.

"HEY, GIRL! MOVE OUT OF THE WAY!"

Reflexes told Hinata to immediately turn around and face whoever was shouting at her.

She did so,

-only to be smacked in the stomach by and oncoming soccer ball.

Hinata let out a sharp gasp as all the wind was knocked out of her. She stumbled backwards, and tripped on one of the stones lining the pathway. She hit the ground and grunted as she felt her head bounce off the hard pavement. A sharp pain shot through her skull, everything became vague and hazy.

She heard squeals of surprise and male voices shouting something incoherent.

Hinata lay sprawled on the ground like that for what seemed like hours, even though it was only a couple of seconds. Her head was throbbing and there was a dull pain in her stomach. She reached back to massage her skull and felt blood on her fingertips. She groaned, who on earth had kicked that damn soccer ball?

She tried to get up but the blow to her head had disoriented her.

"Hey girl! Are you alright?" a male voice said, bending over her. His outline was hazy, and she couldn't really make out the outlines of any other of the people bending over her either. She mumbled something incoherent.

"Here, try to pick her up! You moron, why did you kick that ball so hard?"

"Sorry! I didn't see her! Move Inuzuka, _I'll_ help her!" a frantic voice said.

Hinata felt herself be picked up and gently cradled in someone's arms. A _shirtless_ someone to be more precise. Heat rose to Hinata's cheeks as she weakly wrapped her arms around the person's bare neck. It was getting harder and harder to keep her herself conscious. Her head hurt so much….

Whoever was carrying her hoisted her up and started walking towards the school building.

"You're bleeding," he said.

"Hmnn," was all she able to muster. She closed her eyes, and tried to ignore how all the blood in her body seemed to be rushing to her cheeks. Before she blacked out, she caught a flash of bright yellow hair above her face, and a pair of dark black eyes staring at them from the spot on the lawn from where she was knocked over.

_So much for going unnoticed… _

_-o-_

Please read and review! I want to know if it's worth continuing or if it sucked. Flames are allowed, but I mostly prefer constructive criticism. Hope you liked it.


	2. Chapter 2

Thanks for all the reviews, I really appreciate them. Since I'm on summer vacation, the chapters are going to be coming out faster than normal, so expect the next chapter either later on this week or early next week.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Pshh. I wish**.

Chapter Two

-0-

_My head…_

Hinata slowly opened her eyes and looked around. She was in some kind of hospital room. The curtains were all white, and so were the bed sheets she was laying on.

The hospital?

She bolted upright, but immediately regretted it since she still felt dizzy and disoriented. She fought the urge to vomit all over the clean, white hospital sheets. Groaning, she rolled of the bed. There was no one in the room with her so she suspected the nurse or whoever was in charge was standing outside. She walked out slowly, holding her head with one hand and supporting herself with the other. She felt terrible.

She opened the door and nearly screamed when about 3 people rushed towards her, she had half a mind to bolt from the room.

"Are you feeling better?" a tall, brown-haired male asked her. He had spiky brown hair and marks on each of his cheeks. He was surprisingly tall, and she recognized him as one of the boys playing soccer from earlier. She smiled a little…he was kind of cute.

Hinata bowed her head and nodded. " Hai. I-I'm feeling a little b-better."

"Inuzuka! Did you apologize yet?" a pretty blonde girl shouted suddenly, her hair was tied up in a severe ponytail and she wore one of the shortest skirts ever imaginable. But she was still in uniform.

At the school Hinata went to before, there was no required uniform, so that meant that there some restrictions on skirt length, but there WAS a required uniform here, so Hinata guessed that since it was so there were no restrictions on skirt length. She felt odd, since her skirt nearly reached her knees, while some of the other girls' skirts she'd seen barely covered their butts.

The Hidden Leaf uniform consisted of a gray and blue pleated skirt, with a navy blue blazer and blue tie for the girls, and either khaki or gray shorts or pants with the blazer and tie for the guys. The boy that was speaking to her, she noticed, had his tie slung loosely on his shoulders.

"Me? Apologize? What for? It was this asshole here that kicked the ball, not me!" he cried, pointing to the male standing next to him.

Hinata looked up at who Inuzuka was pointing to and surprised herself when blushed even more. This guy was…to put it in a nutshell, he was, well …_adorable._ He had sunny blonde hair, and humongous blue eyes. They were amazing…the brightest blue ever imaginable. He had brown tanned skin. His hair was a mess, but it suited him perfectly. But what really got Hinata was his smile… it seemed to light up the whole room. She blushed even more when she realized that _he _was the one who carried her when she passed out.

Hinata decided she liked the butterflies she got in her stomach when she thought about him carrying her.

The boy was scratched his head nervously and grinned, Hinata fought the urge to smile too.

"Hehe…I'm sorry….I didn't see you walking by! I hope it didn't hurt that much!" he said, looking thoroughly embarrassed.

"You nearly have her a concussion, moron. Obviously it hurt!" the blonde girl scolded him.

"I'm Sorry…" he said again, he sounded like he really meant it. "What's your name anyways?"

"Hyuuga Hinata." she responded shyly, too nervous to look up. "And yours?"

"Uzumaki Naruto! The one and only!" he said loudly. Kiba and the other girl groaned.

_Hmmn…Uzumaki Naruto…_

She gave a small gasp when an adorable white puppy suddenly jumped into her arms. She giggled and scratched it behind its ears.

"Aww…You're so cute." She cooed.

"This here's Akamaru." The brown-haired boy said proudly, "He likes walks, flowers, bones, and for some reason…girls."

She definitely got the hint.

Hinata gave him a shy smile. "A-And you are?"

"Inuzuka Kiba.", he said grinning at her. She smiled and looked down at Akamaru again.

"INUZUKA! How many times do I have to tell you! No pets on school grounds!" a loud voice rang through the hallway. Hinata looked over Kiba's shoulder to see a pretty, pink haired girl striding towards them. "Leave Akamaru in your room!"

"Aww…Sakura. He gets lonely, all in that room by himself. Cut the puppy a break," he said, grinning.

"Do you WANT to get expelled?"

Kiba pouted. "No."

"Ok then. The dog stays in the room." The girl looked past Kiba and stared at Hinata. She pointed to Hinata's bandages and said, "Courtesy of this moron here I suppose?"

Hinata shook her head. She pointed towards Naruto and smiled shyly. Naruto looked at Sakura and grinned. "It was an accident Sakura-Chan."

"Already causing trouble, Naruto?" she asked, scolding him. "Wouldn't want Tsunade to give you detention on your first day, now would we?"

Naruto flashed Sakura a charming smile and shrugged, brushing the problem away. "How bout you take a walk with me, eh? Sakura-chan? You know you want to," he edged closer to her.

For some reason, Hinata felt her stomach drop in disappointment. Of course. Naruto liked Sakura-_Chan._

She sighed.

Why had she even bothered to get her hopes up? Guys like Naruto only liked pretty, outgoing girls like Sakura. She had to get that through her brain.

"Over my dead body Naruto," Sakura responded. She smacked him, hard.

Hinata winced when she heard his head bounce off the wall. Sakura just rolled her eyes.

"Come on, I'll take you to the auditorium, there's an assembly there now," she said kindly, looking at Hinata.

"O-Okay."

Hinata glanced one last time at Naruto as she was led away; Kiba was helping him up while the other blonde girl was laughing her head off.

What a strange group of people.

--------- ---- ----- ----

The auditorium was noisy. Too noisy.

As she walked in, Hinata could see that her new school would be nothing like her last. She could see a group of people with at least ten piercings in their face, another group made up of chattering girls, and just different little pods of people scattered throughout. But she noticed the ones made up of mostly girls were either A) Applying make-up or B) Flirting with guys.

Hinata sighed in resignation.. She already knew she wasn't going to fit in here. She was never one to exclude others. It just wasn't her.

She walked in and saw her cousin, Neji standing near the stage surrounded by girls. He'd changed a lot since she last saw him. His hair was longer, his face was more mature and he'd changed….physically. She smiled at the look on his face. He looked ready to kill. Those poor girls. They had no chance. But she was secretly glad Neji had no interest in them. Those girls didn't deserve her cousin.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Naruto, sitting with Kiba and a couple of other boys she'd never seen before. She could easily distinguish him because of his bright blonde hair and loud demeanor. He waved in her direction and grinned as she walked in. Her heart leapt.

_Is he really waving at me?_

She raised her hand to wave back but immediately stopped herself when the heavy boy standing next to her accidentally shoved her and waved back at Naruto enthusiastically. She dropped her hand, more disappointed than before.

_Of course he wasn't waving at you, you fool. He doesn't even know you! _

Hinata bowed her head and kept following Sakura, thanking her lucky stars that she hadn't waved back. How embarrassing. Hopefully no one else noticed.

Hinata did see that some people were staring at her and pointing. Or maybe it was just her imagination. Either way she ignored it and kept her gaze firmly on the ground. She wanted no attention on herself.

"Here," Sakura led her to one of the rows in the very front. She sat next to her, and saw other girls there too.

"AHEM!"

The auditorium immediately went silent.

A tall, blonde lady walked onto the stage and stood behind the podium. She was very pretty from what Hinata could see. Several people wolf-whistled as she walked on. Hinata guessed this lady was the headmistress.

"As you all know, the activities committee has proposed a series of dances for this upcoming year," she spoke loudly. There were some cheers.

"Originally I opposed these things, and I still do now." There were groans and shouts of ' No fair!'

From her right, Sakura whispered something to girl next to her, an athletic looking girl with her hair tied up in two buns. She didn't look very happy.

"BUT, seeing how my decision was met with _considerable_ resistance from the student body, I have decided to overturn my original statement and allow the dances to proceed as planned, " the blonde lady said quickly. Her mouth twitched.

It was madness.

Cheers erupted, people clapped, girls started squealing about what they were going to wear, and who they were going with, some boys groaned, while others glanced hopefully in Sakura's direction. Naruto among them. Hinata pretended that she hadn't seen this.

"BE QUIET!" Tsunade roared. Everyone immediately stopped talking.

"Now, get to your homerooms. Class starts in five minutes; anyone found wandering the corridors shall get immediate detention with me. You are dismissed."

-0-

_This is not good._

The hallways were completely empty. No one was walking around except her. All the students were much too scared of Tsunade to even dare risk a detention with her.

And now Hinata had gone and gotten herself into this mess.

Why oh why hadn't she asked Sakura for directions?

_You know why…_she told herself_. Anything but talk to the girl Naruto wants, right?_

Hinata ignored the voice inside her head.

Stupid thing.

Since when did she have a conscience?

She glanced at the clock hanging on the wall. She was twenty minutes late to her class.

She retraced her steps.

Again.

And Again.

Where the hell_was _this fucking room?

Hinata didn't dare to ask anyone in the office for directions. Most likely she'd run into Tsunade and get detention.

After walking around aimlessly for about fifteen more minutes Hinata gave up. Her class would finish in about five minutes anyways. And she would probably get in trouble for skipping on her first class.

This day was turning out to be a total nightmare.

She turned again, with every intention of walking in the girl bathroom and just hiding out there until the damn bell rang. She was going to get in trouble anyway. She was five steps away from her destination when she was stopped.

"What are you doing?"

Hinata jumped.

_Shit._

Ok. She really needed to start watching her language. Since when did she curse so much?

She didn't answer and just stood there.

"I asked you a question," said the cold voice.

Hinata started to shake. She was too nervous to speak. Slowly, she turned and faced whoever was speaking to her.

"I-I-I…" she trailed off, facing him. He had black, spiky hair, and blue-black eyes that contrasted against his pale skin. Briefly, she thought about how he was Naruto's polar opposite. Naruto was all light, whereas this boy looked very dark. Not just because of his hair and eye color either.

_Idiot…don't think about that now. You're about to get in serious trouble and that's all you can think about?_

"I-I'm lost," she managed to squeak out. He looked very, very menacing. But he was definitely a student, because he was in uniform. "I-I'm new and I-I don't know my w-way a-around." She stopped. "C-can you give me d-directions?"

"What class did you just have?"

Hinata was a little surprised by his straightforwardness, but took her schedule out all the same.

"I w-was supposed to be in Academy Room 4, but I didn't find the c-classroom."

"Down the hall, up the stairs, to your right," he answered bluntly, looking at her. There was a strange look in his eyes. Was it pity?

She fidgeted.

"Although it won't do you any good now, classes end in two minutes," he told her.

"Oh. Okay. Um. T-thank you," Hinata started walking away, still intent on going to the girls bathroom. He hand was on the doorknob when he stopped her again.

"And just for the record, that's the guys' bathroom. The girls' bathroom is down the hall," he said.

Hinata blushed and looked at him. He was smirking.

_Asshole._

God. She must look so stupid at the moment. Why did he have to be so taunting about it? And why couldn't she even get _that_ right?

"T-Thanks." she repeated softly, too embarrassed to look up. Hinata turned and ran, tears stinging her eyes.

If this was her first day, she didn't even want to_ think_ about how bad the rest of year would be.

-0-

There you go, hope you liked it!

Read and Review please.


	3. Chapter 3

Ok, I'm soooooo sorry for the late update. But for some reason the document manager wasn't working, it wouldn't let me upload any new documents! Did others have that problem, or was that just my computer acting stupid?

On another note, thanks so much for the reviews everyone! They inspire me to keep writing! Since the document manager is working again, expect the next chapter later on this week.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

**Chapter Three**

-0-

Hinata ran.

She ran as fast as her two legs could carry her. She ran out the building and into the lawn. She sat onto the steps outside the school building and took a deep, steadying breath.

_I'm not going to cry. I'm not going to cry…_

It was only the first day of classes, and already, she hated it.

She hated the fact that Naruto liked Sakura, not her. She hated the fact that everyone seemed so happy, yet _she_ couldn't bring herself to smile at a person properly. She hated the fact that she was practically dragged to this school against her will. She hated the fact that she was just so _shy._ She couldn't even look at people in the eye!

But Hinata hated hating herself. She hated it. She hated the feeling of uncertainty that came with her low self esteem.

How was she supposed to get through high school like this?

The answer: She wasn't.

But…. it wasn't anyone's fault. It wasn't anyone's fault but hers. It was her fault that she was like this, and her fault that she let that mean guy reduce her to tears so easily.

She was going to spend her high school years with these kinds of people. Granting that she didn't get kicked out, but sooner or later that probably would happen considering how these kids were super smart.

_I need to be more confident,_ she thought_, these kids are going to eat me alive if I go on like this._

Hinata sat on the steps, sniffling for what only felt like 30 seconds when she began to hear the bustle of all the classes being let out for break. She sighed sadly; the last thing she wanted was to be surrounded by a bunch of questioning classmates.

_But I have to go in and face them sooner or later._

Hinata slowly got up; massaging her scalp and hoping her eyes weren't too red from nearly crying. She walked in, keeping her eyes firmly on her schedule, and refusing to meet anyone's eyes.

According to her schedule, her next class started in 10 minutes, which History. She knew where this classroom was because she'd passed it on her way out of the school.

Thank God.

Her stomach growled as she remembered her last meal had been the night before. But unfortunately, Hinata had no clue where the cafeteria was, so she would have to cope for now.

As Hinata walked through the hallway, she noticed that she was getting quite a few stares from people. Girls, mostly. She wondered why, it wasn't as if any of them knew her.

Hinata decided to stop and ask some of them for directions.

"E-Excuse me," she shyly asked a tough-looking blonde with her hair pulled up into four ponytails. She was really pretty, albeit in her own way. Hinata guessed that not many people messed with her.

Hinata wished she could exude that type of confidence.

"What?" the blonde asked.

"I-I was wondering if you c-could show me where the snack area is. I-I'm n-new here," Hinata responded, keeping her head up for once.

"Down the hall and to your left," she answered briskly, already looking past her. "What's your name, anyway?"

"Hyuuga Hinata," she said softly, "And you?"

"Sabaku no Temari," she responded. Then she grinned. "I take it Neji is your brother, then?"

"Cousin." Hinata corrected her. Temari grinned.

"You brother is one popular guy."

Hinata smiled sincerely for the first time that day. "I noticed."

-0-

As Hinata walked towards her world history class, her mood couldn't help but lift. She'd met some new people over break, and thankfully she didn't run into that mean, black-haired boy from earlier. Hinata didn't know who he was, and frankly she didn't care, even IF he saved her from the embarrassment of walking into the boys' bathroom.

Hinata blood still boiled at the thought. How could she be so stupid?

But all in all, the day was improving.

Apart from the annoying fact that Naruto and Sakura were flirting like monkeys on speed over break.

Hinata sighed sadly as she remembered how Naruto kept trying to put his arm around Sakura over break, and how he'd tease her and buy her food and other annoying things like that. But what practically killed Hinata was the look Naruto got in his eyes whenever he was staring at her, or the dreamy smile that always seemed to quirk his lips whenever he talked to her.

The painful lump in her throat was threatening to overpower her.

Not the tears again.

_I'm not going to cry..._she told herself for the second time that day. _For the love of god, you met him today! Get over yourself, Hinata. _

Breathing deeply, she opened the door to the classroom and walked in, choosing the seat in the very back. Hopefully, no one would notice her.

"Hyuuga! Fancy seeing you here!" a loud voice shouted at her. It was Kiba.

Well, so much for that.

He walked over to her and squatted right in front of her.

"Are you ok?" he asked seriously.

"H-hai. W-Why wouldn't I be?" she asked casually, trying to hide a stray tear that was about a second away from falling out of her eye, despite her best efforts. Looking past Kiba, she could see Naruto desperately trying to catch Sakura's attention and her deftly ignoring him.

"Well…for one thing, your eyes are kind of red, and your face is all blotchy."

She gasped.

"It-It is?"

Kiba grinned, showing her his fangs. "Yeah, are you sure everything's alright?"

She nodded. "Y-yes, Kiba."

Without warning, Kiba gently reached over and brushed the stray tear away with his thumb.

Hinata flushed scarlet. No one had ever dared to touch her that way before, and certainly never a guy. She looked down, blushing crimson, heart thumping wildly.

"T-t-hank y-you, Kiba," she stuttered, looking away.

Kiba smacked her on the arm playfully.

"Fine. I'll believe you this time, Hinata. But you tell me if anything's wrong, alright?"

" H-hai!" she squeaked.

Kiba gave her one last smack on the arm before he walked away and sat next to Temari, who deftly rolled her eyes at him when he tried to put his arm around her. She smiled, Kiba was a good guy.

Unlike _some_other people.

The door opened again and a hushed silence filled the room. Some of the girls whispered to each other and began to giggle.

Hinata inwardly groaned as the figure she least wanted to see carelessly walked into the room.

The asshole from before.

He looked stuck up, rich, snobby and an all time _jerk_. She couldn't see why all the girls in the room where suddenly blushing and giggling madly.

He looked around the room, searching for an empty seat. They were all taken.

Except one.

_Oh for the love of..._

The only empty seat was next to Hinata.

He strode over to her and plopped down, not even sparing a glance in her direction. It seemed like he had forgotten all about what he had put her through earlier that day.

Hinata could have screamed.

Out of all the seats, out of all the people, out of all the CLASSES in the entire school, it had to be _him_: in _her _class, and in the _damn_ seat next to her.

_Story of my life. _

There was an awed silence as he smoothly took his books out and neatly put them in his desk. Then, he proceeded to fold his arms over his chest and glare icily at everyone in the vicinity.

Hinata rolled her eyes.

The opening of the door once more signaled the arrival of the teacher. A tall man with spiky gray hair and a mask covering most of his face; he looked pretty intimidating to Hinata.

"Sorry I'm late class," he said jovially, waving to them. "I got held up."

Most of the class rolled their eyes. The black-haired boy smirked.

Hinata would have paid money to slap that smirk off his face. Then she scolded herself for thinking such violent thoughts.

"So, I'll get right to it then," the teacher said. "My name is Hatake Kakashi. I will be both your Homeroom and History teacher."

Several people cheered.

"So, before we start anything else, I want to assign your term-long project."

At the pronouncement, everyone groaned.

"C'mon, Kakashi, it's the first day!" Naruto complained loudly. "Can't you cut us a break?"

"Yeah! I still wake up thinking it's summer!" Kiba cried out.

"Shut up, you two," Kakashi said calmly. "This project will count for 50 percent of your grade. You can be a genius and have straight-A's. Or you can be a total idiot-" His gaze fell on Kiba and Naruto. "and have C's. It won't matter, what you get on this project will determine whether you pass or fail this class. And judging by your recent grades, I believe both you AND Kiba here are in desperate need for this extra credit. "

There was a deadly silence in the room.

Damn Kakashi.

He grinned. "Now, let's assign partners for this project!"

"What? It's not individual?" Sakura asked. Kakashi grinned at her.

" No, it would be too much work on me to grade 21 different projects, this way I cut it down by half!" he said, clapping his hands together. Sakura rolled her eyes. Typical Kakashi.

"Hey Old man, how 'bout cutting _our_ work down to half then?" Kiba asked hopefully.

"Inuzuka, _I've_ gone through all this already, it's your turn to go through it now," Kakashi said seriously. " This isn't for me, its for you." Several people chortled.

Of course it was.

Hinata had to hand it to this teacher; he was unlike any others she'd ever had before. Laid back, but very strict at the same time.

"So, since I don't know many of you, I'll assign the partners randomly. And keep in mind that to balance them out, I have decided to make them all boy/girl."

Nearly all the girls in the room gasped and glanced at the black-haired boy sitting next to Hinata hopefully. There were some mutterings too.

Hinata's heart sped up. Boy/Girl partners?

_That means there a chance I might be with Naruto. _

She crossed her fingers under her desk as Kakashi took out the roster from his desk. He ran his name up and down the list.

There was a hushed silence in the room.

"Hmmn…lets see here. How 'bout…Hyuuga Neji and…Tenten."

Hinata grinned as she saw her cousin's expression change from surprise to glee and right back to his usual stoic one in a matter of seconds.

_So he does have a heart after all_, she thought to herself, smiling slightly.

" Inuzuka Kiba and Sabaku no Temari."

Temari groaned and buried her face in her hands. Kiba grinned his trademark grin.

"Nara Shikamaru and…Yamanaka Ino"

The pretty blonde girl from before sighed sadly and glanced longingly at the guy next to Hinata. Then she winked across the room at a bored-looking guy slouching in his seat.

As Kakashi kept going through the list, Hinata got more and more anxious. She wanted to be with Naruto so much.

"Uzumaki Naruto and…." Kakashi stopped, looking through the list. Hinata could feel her heart trying to escape out of her throat.

_Please, please, please pick me…_

"Haruno Sakura."

Hinata's face fell, and she felt it too. Sakura? Out of all the girls in the class Naruto had to be paired up with _her? The _girl he had a huge crush on? The little bubble of hope that Hinata had been nursing popped. She slouched in her seat, cursing the world an all it's inhabitants.

Hinata wanted to run from the room as she Naruto practically jump out of his seat with happiness. She saw Sakura roll her eyes and frown. Naruto grinned playfully at Sakura as she gave him the finger.

_Why her? She can't stand him! Why not me?_

_Damn _Kakashi. She hated him at that moment.

Hinata didn't even care about not cursing anymore. She was depressed, angry, and extremely jealous at the same time.

Not a good combination.

Kakashi kept assigning pairs, receiving various groans from the girls who had been paired with the boys they didn't want to be paired with.

"Let's see know, who's left…." Kakashi muttered after a few minutes. He ran finger down the list again.

"Hyuuga Hinata…"

Hinata's ears perked up at the sound of her name. But she didn't really care _who_ she was paired with anymore. Now that Naruto was taken.

By _Sakura _no less. Hinata knew she had no right to dislike her, but the girl was just so damn _perfect._

" …and Uchiha Sasuke."

All the girls who hadn't been paired yet gasped loudly. They shot envious looks in Hinata's direction, and she could only fathom why.

Who the hell was Uchiha Sasuke?

She could only hope he wasn't a _total_ idiot. Or else someone was going to die. She was NOT going to do all the work in this project. She needed that A.

As Kakashi finished assigning pairs he put the register down.

"Ok, so now, separate into your groups and discuss the project." He said curtly.

"How? You haven't assigned it to us, Kakashi-sensei," Neji pointed out, sounding irritated.

"Just do what I say, get to know your partners, I'll come around and assign it in a few minutes."

As the class-murmuring, complaining and giggling- moved around to get to their partners, Hinata was left by herself in the back, looking around for the person she was paired with, because she had no clue on earth who that person _was._

After about two minutes however, the rest of the class had separated and were scattered all around the room, either chatting to others and ignoring their partners( Sakura and Naruto)or shooting death looks at each other ( Temari and Kiba), or gazing longingly at others. But no one had come to find Hinata.

As far as she knew, everyone in the other class already had their own partners, so where was this Uchiha Sasuke? Was there some kind of mistake?

Hinata heard someone clear their throat next to her, and she turned to the asshole from earlier.

"So, are you just going to sit there, or are we actually going to get some work done?" he growled at her.

Hinata gasped. No. It couldn't be. "U-Uchiha S-Sasuke?"

He smirked softly. "Obviously."

Hinata gulped.

Damn, Damn, _Damn_ Kakashi!

-0-

I bet some of you are reading this and going Wow…could this get any more cliché? And let me tell you, it can. It _so_ can.

So let me just warn you in advance, if you don't like rampaging teenage hormones or teenage fantasies, or anything involving the oh-so-angsty lives of teenagers and fluff-filled moments involving pickles and butterflies, then please leave. See that little arrow at the top left hand corner of your screen? Do yourself a favor and click it.

Thanks for reading, kindly review.


	4. Chapter 4

Yay! So many reviews...wow. I love all of them! I know this chapter isn't as long as the other ones, but still, I hope you like it! And just know that things will start getting juicy soon... wink wink.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

**Chapter Four**

-0-

_What did I do to deserve this? I've been good. I haven't killed anyone, and I sure as hell don't want anyone dead (except Kakashi), so why is this happening to me?_

These were the thoughts running through Hinata's head as she turned to face the one and only Uchiha Sasuke.

School heartthrob. Every girl's dream guy. And, from what she'd gathered from all the whispering, star athlete. The most popular guy in school.

Well, _supposedly._

Truthfully, Hinata didn't really see what was so great about him. She bit her lip.

He was mean and stuck up. Any girl would have to either be on some kind of drugs or have sustained some kind of brain damage to even _CONSIDER_ Uchiha Sasuke as a possible choice.

Indeed, she felt sorry for the girl that was stuck with him as her boyfriend.

But she might as well get used to it now, because they were going to be working together for a long, long time.

All thanks to _Kakashi. _Hinata resented her teacher greatly for putting her through this torture.

Hinata looked at her supposed teacher, sitting with his feet propped up on the desk, and reading from a bright orange book while his students did nothing in particular.

_So much for responsible. _

Hinata turned to stare at the face that made most of the girls in the school swoon. It was currently glaring at everyone nearby. She continued to stare, even though she knew it was rude.

He caught her staring, and she only received an icy glare in return.

Hinata gulped again.

Her days were numbered. This Uchiha looked so….._intimidating._

Hinata debated saying something. She decided against it. So they sat in silence for a few seconds.

After a while though, the silence became unbearable, it was pressing in on her like some kind of bug that needed to be stepped on. The Hyuuga Heiress decided that it was now or never. She took a deep breath.

"M-my name is H-Hyuuga H-Hinata." She managed to squeak out, pressing the tips of her fingers together, a habit since infancy.

He didn't respond. Great. Now what was she supposed to say?

"So. Um. D-do you have any ideas for the pro-project?"

Sasuke scowled. "He hasn't even assigned it to us yet. So does it look like I would have any good ideas?"

She blushed again, mainly out of embarrassment. Once again, she'd made a fool of herself. Why did he turn everything she said against her? She was only trying to be friendly.

"N-No, it doesn't." she said, bowing her head.

They sat in awkward silence for a few minutes, Sasuke, with his hands folded across his chest and coolly glaring at everyone within close proximity, and Hinata sneaking glances at Naruto out of the corner of her eye.

"Ok! Have you all gotten to know your partners? Good," Kakashi announced, getting up from his spot on his chair.

_Finally_, Hinata thought in relief.

"Now, this project is a research project. You will be assigned a certain country, and you must research that country's culture _thoroughly. _Everything from cuisine to political status to economy, anything and everything will go into your report. You and your partner will hand in one written report and you will both receive the same grade."

He handed out a sheet of paper to each group, and that had the country they were assigned to, and the requirements of the report.

They had been assigned Wind Country.

-0-

Uchiha Sasuke had been dreading the first day of school for a long time. He had no desire to return to a place were he was mobbed constantly by rabid girls asking him out on dates. He despised all of them. _Didn't they get it?_

But sadly, here he was, in Kakashi's class, getting assigned a pointless project, and ignoring all the girls who were sending him lustful stares. Sasuke hoped that the glares he was sending everyone would make them back off.

But for some reason that only seemed to make them even more insistent.

He couldn't stand any one of them. He insulted, rejected and _ignored them._ So why couldn't they back off?

Sasuke had long come to the conclusion that girls were shallow. They only focused on looks and ignored all other aspects of a person. If they didn't, then he would have no girls after him whatsoever because he was constantly insulting them.

Besides, they talked too much about stupid and pointless things.

And now, to top it all off he was paired up with this Hyuuga who looked too scared to even look at him in the eye!

Needless to say, Uchiha Sasuke was _pissed_.

"Ok, s-so we h-have W-wind C-country," she stuttered, pressing the tips of her fingers together. "Any i-ideas?"

The way she stuttered so much annoyed him. So he chose to ignore her.

"U-Uchiha-s-san?" she asked in a tiny voice.

"Be Quiet," he told her.

"Pardon?"

"You heard me. I don't feel like talking to you, so be quiet."

She gasped, blushed, and bowed her head again. He smirked. But thankfully she didn't speak again.

After that, and awkward silence settled upon them. Out of the corner of his eye, the stoic Uchiha could see Hinata sneaking glances at Naruto and glaring at Sakura. He smirked even more.

_So the Hyuuga has a thing for the moron…_

Sasuke had a nagging feeling he would be able to use that little fact to his advantage very, very soon.

"So when do you want to start working on this thing?" he asked her coldly. He figured it was best to get it over with and done quickly so he wouldn't have to put up with her.

She jumped and took a while to answer him.

"As s-soon as p-possible."

So, the feeling was mutual. She didn't want to work with him as much as he wanted to work with her.

"Hn. Fine." He answered. "We should meet sometime in the next few weeks. I want this thing done as soon as possible. And you better not slack off, Hyuuga. I'm not about to get failed because of you."

Hinata nodded faintly.

" H-Hai."

She glanced at Naruto again, and he saw her turn head away when he started flirting with Sakura. Sasuke sighed. Good. Hinata was one less girl for him to put up with.

Life was improving.

-0-

The bell rang, signaling the end of second period. Hinata grabbed her things and ran for the door and right into the great sea of students pushing to get to their next class. Hinata had to push and shove certain people to get to her locker. But at least she was free of that… person.

Thank _God._

If she had to spend ONE more minute under Uchiha Sasuke's glare, she was going to explode. It seemed that there was no one in the world he tolerated other than himself.

_Talk about self-absorbed._

The next few weeks were going to be hell. How did Kakashi expect her to work with someone so _mean?_

He'd nearly reduced her to tears again when he told her to shut up. It wasn't as if she'd been saying anything wrong, right?

_He's just an asshole,_ her inner conscience told her.

……. _But a good-looking asshole at that._

**_What? Uchiha? Are you blind? Naruto's ten times cuter than him, _**she told herself, feeling butterflies in her stomach when she thought of the sunny blonde.

_Yeah…you just keep thinking that…_

**_Just ….shut up and leave me alone._**

_Hello? How do you propose I do that? I AM you remember? Or have you forgotten that tiny little fact?_

**_Leave me alone!_**

_Weirdo._

**_Loser._**

_You know you're calling yourself names, right?_

Hinata stopped walking and rested her head on a nearby wall.

Now she was arguing with herself?

She shook her head and closed her eyes; maybe it was the kick to the head she'd experienced earlier. Yeah. That was it.

Hinata was in the middle of ridding her head of stupid thoughts when someone pushed her against the wall roughly. For the second time that day, her head collided with something solid. She grunted in pain as stars exploded in front of her eyes.

She opened her eyes to see Uchiha Sasuke striding past her, urgently pushing his way through the crowd.

"Sorry." He mumbled at her, glancing over his shoulder.

Hinata blinked.

_Did he just apologize to me?_

Almost immediately as he strode by, large group of insane girls ran by fighting to get to him, among them Sakura and Ino. They were running over anyone that stood in their way. This particular group of girls reminded Hinata of a stampede of angry elephants.

These girls were _vicious._

"Sasuke! You forgot your book!"

"Move over dumbass, he's mine!"

"No, he's mine!"

"Just shut up, you slut!"

"Oi Sasuke! Hey, where did you go?"

Hinata pressed herself against the wall and tried to appear invisible. But she couldn't help but let out a giggle at Sasuke's predicament.

Once they'd passed by, Hinata couldn't help but think that, had Sasuke not been Sasuke, and had he not treated her like dirt, then maybe she would have felt sorry for him.

Maybe.

-0-

Thanks for reading, please review.


	5. Chapter 5

Wow...more than one hundred reviews...I'm speechless! Thank you so much! AAH! I'm so happy. And I would have had this chapter up last week, except that as usual, my computer was being stupid. But at least it's working now. And you know, the more reviews I get, the more pressure is put on me to pump out the chapters faster. Hint.

And this chapter is actually my longest so far! -cheers- So expect the next one later on in the week.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I never will...-cries-**

**Chapter Five **

-0-

"I hate you Hyuuga, with a passion."

"You have got to be the luckiest girl in the school!"

"C'mon…tell us! Is he as hot close up?

"You better put in a good word for me, Hyuuga! _Or else_…."

"Hey! What about me?"

Hyuuga Hinata was currently being attacked by some of the most ferocious girls she had ever encountered. They reminded her of raging pack of wild beasts. Good lord. Did she really go to school with these people?

These girls were crowded around her bed, bombarding her with all kinds of ridiculous questions and begging her to 'switch 'with them. Whatever the hell that meant.

Poor Hinata had no idea how or when they'd broken into her dorm room, just that they'd pinned her to her bed as soon as she walked in after dinner. She'd been stuck in her room ever since.

But the one thing she DID know was that they were very, very frightening.

They were so frightening in fact, that she was debating whether or not to start screaming for help. And was it just her, or did some of them seem to have a mad gleam in their eyes?

"I-I'm sorry," she stuttered, trying to become as small as possible and sinking into her bed sheets. "I-I don't know wwhat you're t-talking about."

"Oh, don't be stupid Hinata," said Ino, waving her hand in the air. "You know exactly what we're talking about. So…will you switch with me? Will you? Oh, and answer me this: are his biceps really noticeable through his school shirt? "

What on earth was wrong with these people?

"S-Sasuke's?" Hinata asked meekly.

"Of course! Who _else_ would I be talking about?"

Hinata blushed and pressed her fingers together. How in the world was she supposed to know? She hadn't been focusing on his muscles; she'd been focusing on not getting her head bitten off!

"He doesn't let anyone within four feet of him, you see," Ino supplied.

_Heh. I bet the ass doesn't._

"I-I don't know. Maybe you s-should see for yourself t-tomorrow," Hinata said nervously, "and b-besides, I d-don't think he's very n-nice."

Some of the girls laughed.

"Of course he isn't _nice,_" Sakura piped up, grinning, "Sasuke's mean to everyone. It's ok, Hinata I'd be more worried if he WEREN'T mean to you," she said comfortingly, " That's just the way he is."

Hinata tried to ignore Sakura's words of comfort because she was still feeling pretty resentful towards her. But unfortunately, manners got the better of Hinata, and she awarded Sakura a small smile all the same.

"Ha, you act like you know him, forehead-girl," Ino cut in, chortling. "I bet I can count the number of _syllables_ you've actually said to him."

"Shut up. They're a hell of a lot more than YOU. Cow."

Hinata gasped. These girls were pretty mean to each other when they were angry.

"Shut up, both of you. You're scaring Hinata," Temari cut in menacingly. To Hinata's great surprise, they did. Temari was pretty intimidating when she wanted to be.

Muttering, some of the girls began to file out of the room, except Temari and Tenten, since they were her roommates. Hinata breathed a sigh of relief when most of the girls had left. She was never really good with big crowds.

_Finally,_ she could start her homework. She cautiously walked over to her desk and picked up her backpack. It was only her first day, and already she had tons of homework. Hinata would be up all night finishing it.

Sakura and Ino were at the door when Ino turned and loudly said, "Oh! I almost forgot! What's gonna be Hinata' initiation?"

"I-Initiation?"

Sakura and Ino settled themselves on the bed again. Hinata sighed resignedly and turned to them again.

_So much for the Homework….._

"Yeah…initiation. Everyone has to do it. We had to, and so do you," Sakura said airily.

"B-but what i-is it?" Hinata wondered. Initiation? This school was getting weirder by the second.

"Oh, just some kind of dare that you have to do. The other girls give the task to you. I don't know why it's called initiation. You do it on your first night in the dorms. It's a pain, but you have to do it. But it's also tradition," Ino explained, "Everyone does it. I had to sneak into Tsunade's room and paint her face with permanent markers", she snickered.

Hinata gasped. "D-did y-you g-get c-caught?"

"Yes. I had detention for a month. It was worth it though."

Dread filled Hinata's stomach like a lead weight. Detention? For a month? Never in her life had Hinata broken rules.

"A-and what if y-you refuse?" Hinata said nervously.

"Well…let's just say your social life will become SIGNIFICANTLY uncomfortable from know on. The seniors make sure of that," Sakura supplied, smirking.

Hinata gulped.

Great. Just _Great._

This by far had been one of the worst days of her life. From getting knocked out with a soccer ball, to getting lost in her new school, to getting her first crush, and finding out said crush already had ANOTHER crush, and getting paired with up with Sasuke, and not to mention getting _insulted_ by Sasuke, to getting tons of homework she wasn't going to complete in time, to having insane people as roommates….and now THIS?

_I am so. Damn. Screwed._

"It really isn't that bad Hinata," Temari said comfortingly, looking at her face. "Trust me, it's a hundred times worse if you refuse."

Hinata was nothing short of terrified. Her palms were sweaty and her heart was beating a hundred miles per minute. She was dead. D-E-A-D. How was she going to get out of this?

"So, what's it gonna be, Hinata?" Tenten chirped suddenly, bouncing up and down on her bed.

Hinata weighed her options. She could say no. And most likely be completely humiliated by these girls in the worst possible way. Or she could say yes, ATTEMPT the dare and face Tsunade's wrath. Was she going to be brave and accept the initiation dare, or be her normal self and just cower away like she usually did?

Decisions, decisions.

_These girls can all get expelled. Not me. I want to live past tonight, thanks.._

"A-alright. I'll d-do it."

Damn it. Her and her big mouth.

Sakura and Ino beamed and let out sighs of relief.

"We're proud of you, Hinata," Tenten giggled. Temari smiled at her as if to say: Good decision.

_Good decision, my ass... I'm facing detention for this._

"So…what's the task gonna be?" Temari asked, crossing her legs on her bed.

_Please, Please, PLEASE nothing involving Tsunade and permanent markers…_

There was silence in the room as all the girls tried to conjure up a good enough dare. Task. Thing. _Whatever_.

The only sound in the room was Hinata fidgeting nervously on her bed…saying goodbye to the world. Because there was no way she would survive _this._

"I'm thinking something like…hmmn. _Boys dorms,_" Ino said, looking out the window thoughtfully.

"And…_whipped cream,_" Tenten supplied randomly, also staring out the window.

Boys dorms? Whipped cream? What in the hell?

Hinata's heart began to beat faster and faster, and her palms became even sweatier than before. Out of the corner of her eye, Hinata saw Ino, Tenten, Sakura and Temari exchange glances and then smirk. It looked like they had all been hit with the same idea.

_God help me._

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Sakura asked them.

They all nodded and looked at Hinata.

Hinata became, if that was possible, even more terrified than before. She gulped again.

Ino hopped over to where Hinata was sitting, plopped down next to her and put her arm around her shoulders.

"Right. Here's the deal," she said matter-of-factly, "Your job is to sneak into the boys dorm with a bottle of whipped cream…" She looked at Sakura to continue.

"And COMPLETELY cover at least three guys with it. So all you have to do, is sneak in, find the three guys you want to prank, and just spray them all over the place with it!" Sakura chirped exitedly, "And it would be even better if you make designs and stuff, ha! This is going to be so good," she said, giggling evilly. Even Temari grinned a little.

Hinata could have fainted. They expected her not to get caught?

"Are you ready, Hinata-chan?" Tenten asked, she looked kind of worried. Maybe it was because Hinata's face had taken on a light shade of green.

Hinata could have screamed at them._ No, of course I'm not ready! _

"H-hai. I-I'm r-ready," Hinata spoke before she could stop herself. Ino and Sakura simultaneously let out a cheer as Temari gave Hinata a sympathetic smile. Then they all bustled out of the room to let Hinata make any necessary preparations.

And that was that.

-o-

A silent figure wove its way through the darkness.

Clad in all black, and shivering in the cold night air, Hinata huddled behind a tree, cold, hating the world, and paranoid. The moonlight shone eerily off the small pond in the middle of the school's campus. She'd never seen the school by night before, and she had to admit, it was pretty beautiful. The whole place looked…peaceful.

Hinata shivered as she leaned against the tree, a paper clip in one hand and the bottle of whipped cream in another. She was seriously considering running from the place. Her head was swimming with thoughts of what she was about to do.

She looked back at the tall building she had come from, and could see the lights on in her room, and could barely make out the outlines of four figures standing in the window, peering down at her. Hinata was halfway to the boy's dorms.

_Please don't let me be caught…_

Taking a deep breath, Hinata plowed on, dodging in between trees and behind bushes so that the guards patrolling the school wouldn't see her. Hinata forgot about everything as she ran on…across the soccer fields and over the little bridge that was situated over the cute little pond. She was nearly there.

The big, old-fashioned building that was the boy's dormitories was looming nearer with every step she took. Hinata focused on running and running only, and in doing so, she temporarily forgot all about her fear.

She didn't stop until she reached the door. She paused, gasping and holding a stitch in her side. She'd run a lot since she left the girls dorms. Hinata remembered getting up from her bed about fifteen minutes earlier, hanging into an all-all black ensemble, taking the whipped cream from Temari and exiting the room…all without saying a word.

A now she was standing here, picking the lock to break into the boy's dorms to put whipped cream on their faces, she felt like such a delinquent.

Hinata moved the paper clip around a little more, breathing hard and trying to ignore the pain in her stomach. The silence of the school was pressing in on her ears. She envied the people that were huddled safe and warm in their beds…unlike her; freezing, scared, and breaking into school property.

With a soft _click, _the lock broke and the door swung open, and, taking another deep breath, Hinata bravely stepped inside.

-o-

The boy's dorm was….different to say the least.

Not to mention slightly smelly.

While the girl's dorm was orderly and refreshing, the boy's dormitories were…untidy.

The first floor held a sort of lobby, with vending machines and couches and a couple of desks. It was really creepy, since a few lights were on, and they cast shadows on the desks and couches, giving the whole place a haunted-house sort of look. Hinata felt goose bumps rise along her arms, and her hairs stood up on end. There were no sounds in the whole building besides her own ragged breathing. She took another deep breath and shook her head.

_I need to do this as fast as possible._

Hinata walked quietly up the flights of stairs, taking care to make as little noise as she could. If the boys' dormitories were arranged in any way like the girls, then that meant that the first floor of rooms held the younger students, while the second and third held the older, more advanced students.

Hinata prayed that this was so because she had no immediate desire to walk around the boys' dorm at night, lost. So, she walked up the two flights of stairs and onto the higher floors, where she hoped the upper classmen slept, hoping against hope that she wouldn't run into anyone. Should that happen, she would be done for.

As Hinata quietly stepped out onto the landing of the third floor, she was relieved to see that the hallway was completely and utterly empty. Now, she just had break into a couple of rooms and see who slept where. Right? Easy-peasy lemon squeasy.

Uh-huh. _Right._

_I came all this way…no way in hell I can back down now._

Hinata ignored the voice in her head that told her this was a terrible idea, she ignored her sweaty palms and her beating heart, and she definitely ignored the fact that her knees were getting ready to give away.

She took a tentative step forward and winced when the floor creaked. She froze, terrified that the noise might have awoken someone. When not a sound was made, however, Hinata sidestepped that spot and turned to the first door she came upon. She quietly turned the knob and was relieved to see that it was unlocked.

She opened the door as silently as she could and peeked in. Her nostrils met with a pungent smell of smelly socks, deodorant…and food. Hinata could have thrown up then and there.

She walked into the room and saw that both the inhabitants were sleeping, and all the lights were turned off, the only light came from the moonlight shining through the window. Hinata took a moment to register the situation.

_It's the middle of the night; I'm in the boys' dorms, about to spray them with whipped cream._

Had the situation not been so serious, Hinata would have broken down laughing then and there.

As it was, she stealthily walked into the room, stepping over socks and shirts that littered the floor. Luckily the rumbling snores coming from both beds drowned out any other noises. As Hinata approached the second bed, she saw spiky brown hair sticking up, and a bare, tanned chest poking out from the bed sheets. When she was a couple feet away she noticed two marks on the person's cheeks.

_Kiba._

Once again, Hinata could have burst out laughing. She took another deep breath and tried to calm her nerves. She couldn't get caught. She just couldn't.

Hinata quietly shook the bottle of whipped cream and began to spray.

-o-

When she was done, Kiba had a halo of cream all over his hair and head, had whipped cream on his chest, and she had taken care to decorate Akamaru with the white substance too. She wondered why he hadn't noticed her in there; after all, he was a dog. Maybe he knew she was in there but just wanted to help her. Or maybe Kiba gave him some sleeping drug at night that knocked the poor dog out until morning.

_Or maybe you're just delusional._

Slowly and surely, her nerves began to fade.

When she was done with Kiba, she quietly moved onto the other snoring occupant on the other side of the room. She approached cautiously and froze when she saw blonde hair poking out of the covers….and saw a bare, tanned chest as she moved closer. Hinata's heart began to beat in her chest and she felt her face turn a fiery shade of crimson. Why did it have to be HIM that was shirtless?

_Oh my god. Naruto. _

Needless to say, he looked_very _nice…and as much as she wanted to Hinata refused to let her imagination go on overdrive, that would be for later. She _had_ to finish the job.

_Pervert. _

She sighed. She felt terrible doing this to him….but if she didn't, she would have to go and find somebody else and that would take even longer.

And he looked so _adorable_ sleeping too. Hinata sighed resignedly. She shook the bottle again and continued on with her task, praying that Naruto wouldn't be too mad when he found out.

After she was done with him, Hinata tip-toed out of the room and shut the door behind her, breathing deeply.

_Two down, one to go._

So it hadn't been that bad. She was calmer, and luck had been on her side because neither Naruto nor Kiba had woken up. Now, she just needed one other person.

_Who, though?_

She thought about it for a few seconds…and the answer hit her with the force of a speeding train.

-o-

She was pushing it, she knew.

It was one thing to prank Naruto and Kiba…who were really nice and could take a joke like the next person.

But him?

Hinata would die a slow, drawn-out death if she were caught.

After looking through three different dorms and not finding him, Hinata was about ready to give up. She told herself that if he wasn't in the next one, she was going to slather whipped cream on whichever unlucky person was in that particular room.

It was room 234, based on the number on the door. She walked in, expecting loud snores not even bothering to be quiet-

-when she entered a completely silent room.

Hinata stopped, cursing herself for nearly getting herself caught. Looking around, she saw that there was definitely someone there, as there was a lump on the sole bed. She approached it carefully, and was surprised to see that there was nothing on the floor, and the place smelled…normal.

At this point in time, Hinata didn't really care if this was him or not, she just wanted to finish her job and leave.

When she was about three feet away from the bed, she caught a glimpse of a pale, muscular arm thrown over the owner's head. She traced that arm with her eyes and could have jumped in glee when she saw the now -familiar blue-black hair.

_Gotcha. _

Hinata shook the bottle a little and took a couple of steps forward. The bed was right under the window and the window was thrown open, so the moonlight shone in like all the other rooms.

Hinata gasped when she saw that Sasuke was…shirtless, the covers haphazardly thrown around his waist.

She blushed, and fought the urge to press her fingers together. Why him too?

And why did she always act like a four-year-old around undressed guys? But jeez. She was a girl, and those muscles were right _there!_

Seeing Sasuke shirtless reminded her of _Naruto_ shirtless….and Hinata blushed even more.

If that was humanly possible.

Hinata tried to clear her head and moved yet a step closer, her finger already on the nozzle of the bottle.

_Just do what you're here to do._

She was about three seconds away from spraying his hair when his eyes snapped open, and that intense gaze of his settled on her face.

Hinata froze.

It was all over now.

_Shit, shit shit!_

She was so dead.

Hinata was too scared to move. There were about five, horrible seconds where Sasuke just stared at her, squinting, and Hinata trying her hardest not to cry.

-And then he sank back into his pillows and closed his eyes again.

He seemed to think she was some sort of dream.

Hinata let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding.

_Thank you, thank you so much!_

She was saved...for now.

She debated whether or not to take her chances and spray him…or whether to leave. Hinata had a nagging feeling that, if she valued her life, she should seriously turn around and leave.

But then the unbidden image of him reducing her to tears came to her mind.

Anger and embarrassment churned inside Hinata's stomach, and she bravely began to cover the Uchiha in whipped cream, the voice inside her head rejoicing. Hinata thanked her lucky stars that he didn't wake up again and instead focused on her task of covering the stoic boy with the sticky substance.

As she did so, she realized something that her family had always tried to tell her, but-according to them- Hinata had always been too "nice" to understand.

Hinata smiled, because now she knew what her father, her sister, and everyone else had been talking about all along. Almost against her will, she grinned slightly.

Revenge WAS sweet, indeed.

-o-

Thanks for reading. Please Review!


	6. Chapter 6

Hi...remember this story, everyone? Sorry it took me so long to update. Yeah, I'm not even going to bother with excuses, because I'm a terrible authoress. School has started so I'm pretty busy now...but I WILL try to update as fast as I can.

Thank you all for your reviews! Wow...178. That's amazing. You're the most patient readers I could ask for, really. Squeal.

**Disclaimer: Do you really think I own it? Pfft.**

**Chapter 6 **

-o-

Sakura, Ino, Temari and Tenten weren't evil girls. Catty and bitchy, maybe, but they were definitely not evil.

Really, they weren't. If they were, they would have made Hinata's initiation dare be something extremely difficult. Hell, they even gave let Hinata pick which guys to spray. So in reality, they did not consider themselves mean _at all._

But still, they felt slightly guilty for forcing the shy Hyuuga into doing something so risky. Which was why, after about an hour had gone by and Hinata had not returned from the boy's dorms, they began to panic, why hadn't Hinata returned?

"You don't think she got caught, do you?' Tenten asked, running to the window for the hundredth time.

"I don't think so…" Sakura said slowly, "At least, I really hope not," she said, running towards the window also.

"Where are you, Hinata?" Temari asked worriedly, looking at the clock that hung on her bedside table. The school prefects would be up and about soon, doing their nightly rounds for those who were sneaking around. The punishment for sneaking out at night was suspension.

Temari looked at the watch again.

_Get back soon, Hinata, or else you're a goner._

-0-

Hinata wove her way through the bushes, careful not to tread on any mud or step on any twigs. There was only one thought on her mind at the moment.

_I did it! I can't believe I actually did it!_

She was amazed. No, more than amazed, she was ecstatic. She, Hyuuga Hinata had _broken the rules. _

It was such an adrenaline rush.

She wondered how Kiba, Sasuke and Naruto would feel when they woke up and found themselves covered in goop. She giggled softly.

_I hope they won't be too mad._

As Hinata approached the girl's dorms, she slowed down. She couldn't wait to see the looks on the other's faces when they saw her safe and sound.

Quietly, she slid herself through the main door of the dormitory building and tip-toed up the stairs to her room. It was the only one with a light shining through the cracks of the door. Hinata knocked as quietly as she could.

"Who is it?" a fearful voice called out.

"I-It's me." Hinata whispered, pressing her ear against the door.

There was the sound of someone jumping of a bed and before Hinata knew it, she was grabbed by the arms and thrown into the room by Temari and Ino.

"Thank god! We were so worried!" Ino cried, setting Hinata on the bed, "You made it just in time!"

"In t-time for w-what?" Hinata asked, rubbing her eyes so that they could get used to the sudden harsh light.

"Just some prefects that do nightly rounds to make sure no one's out of bed," Sakura said simply.

"Oh."

There was a silence during which Hinata removed her mud-caked shoes and suffocating black sweater. She pulled her hair of the ponytail it had been in and realized that one of her hairclips was missing. Aw, she loved those things. It had probably fallen outside somewhere.

No one spoke. Hinata vaguely wondered why.

After a few more seconds however, it seemed that Ino couldn't take it anymore.

"Well?" she demanded, eyes flashing.

"W-well w-what?" Hinata asked innocently. What were these crazy girls going on about _now?_

"How was it? Who'd you spray? Did you get caught? What do the boys dorms look like?" Ino fired, bouncing up on the bed.

"Good. Three p-people. No I didn't, or else I wouldn't b-be here. And j-just like o-ours."

It took Ino a couple of seconds to register that Hinata had just answered all of her questions. "What? Oh, Right."

"Who did you spray, Hinata?' Temari asked.

Hinata blushed. Ick. If she told them who….Ino and Sakura would most likely cause some sort of riot because their precious "Sasuke-kun" was pranked…and probably kill her in the process.

Ah well. They could manage. Besides…Hinata wanted nothing more than to go to bed. She'd make it quick and painless.

"Erm…I-I p-pranked K-Kiba," Hinata said slowly. Ino and Sakura smirked; Hinata vaguely registered the twitch that ran through Temari's eyebrows when she said this.

_Hmnnn…_

"Who else?" Tenten asked eagerly.

" Erm…N-Naruto-kun," she said, poking the tips of her fingers together. Hinata tried to ignore the butterflies that erupted in her stomach when she said his name.

_Hinata...you've got it bad._

**_No, really?_**

_Yes, really._

**_Argh. Must. Stop. Aruging. With. Self._**

Ino and Sakura broke out laughing. "Hah! That's what that idiot gets! Good for you, Hinata-chan!" Sakura giggled.

"Really, it was about time the idiot got a taste of his own medicine," Tenten replied, shaking her head and smiling.

Hinata looked at the floor.

_Here it comes…_

Oh god. She REALLY didn't want this to be her last night alive.

"And who else?" Ino asked impatiently.

"Er…w-well…" Hinata said, staring at the floor. The crazy gleam in Ino and Sakura's eyes was very frightening indeed.

"U-Uchiha-san." Hinata muttered, turning around.

"Who?" Sakura asked.

"S-Sasuke," Hinata said slowly, bracing herself. She closed her eyes.

"You."

"Pranked."

"**_SASUKE?_**!"

It was a chain reaction, as if Sakura and Ino had _rehearsed_ it. Temari and Tenten were staring at her, dumbfounded.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, YOU SPRAYED SASUKE?" Sakura shouted, incensed.

"YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO DO SOMEONE ELSE! NOT SASUKE-, HINATA! DAMNIT!" Ino cried, panting like an angry bull, "What if he suspects one of us? We're all dead. Oh god. He's going to find out, he is. And then he's going to hate me!"

Out of the corner of her eye, Hinata could see Temari burying her head in her hands, stifling her grin as best as possible. She sighed, and turned to Ino and Sakura who were on the verge of murder.

This was going to be a _long_night.

-0-

Sasuke was pissed off.

No, more than pissed off, he was FURIOUS. So furious in fact, that if someone were to say ONE wrong thing to him, then that someone would have a VERY premature death.

How could any even THINK about doing this to him?

Sasuke knew something was wrong before he opened his eyes. He could smell something sweet, and could feel something gooey all over his head and arms.

Opening his eyes, he saw something white and gooey covering his arms, could feel it on his head, and saw that his bedcovers were flooded in it. It had a sickly sweet smell too. Sasuke _hated_ sweets.

He wiped some off his arms and tasted it. It was whipped cream.

No way in _hell._

He shot up and jumped out his bed as if struck by lightning, only to feel something squish between his toes as soon as he touched the floor. His eyes widened as he saw that his _entire_floor was covered in the white substance as well.

_Naruto._

The moron was going to DIE. This was one prank too many.

Sasuke burst out of his room, taking care to grab the first pointy thing he saw to cause the Uzumaki great bodily harm. A pen.

Perfect. He had every intention of sticking the thing up Naruto's-

"Asshole._"_ Sasuke hissed murderously, bursting into the last room down the hall, not bothering to knock.

And was very surprised with what he saw.

The room Naruto shared with Kiba was completely covered in goop also…even more so than his. But unlike Sasuke, Naruto and Kiba hadn't gone on a killing spree to find the culprit. No, instead they were rolling on the floor, laughing their heads off.

"You too, Uchiha?" Kiba gasped, clutching his stomach, looking completely ridiculous with the halo of whipped cream nesting on his spiky head.

Sasuke remembered that he hadn't wiped the cream of his body; he looked completely ridiculous.

"Sasuke! Haha! Look at this!" Naruto cried, stretching his arms out to him. Sasuke noticed how, out of the three of them, Naruto definitely had the least whipped cream on him.

"Wow…whoever did this must have been a pro," Chouji suddenly said from the doorway. He walked in and grinned when he saw the disaster the room was.

"So it wasn't you, moron?" Sasuke asked angrily.

"Do you really think I would prank myself, bastard?" Naruto retorted, getting out of bed. "Jeez, and you say you're smart."

"Shut up, idiot," Sasuke said, pacing, "I'm trying to think."

"Wow…whoever did this is my new idol!" Naruto cried, looking around the room,"They had to be one brave soul to prank the ice prince over here."

Kiba laughed again." We HAVE to figure out who it was, and give them a present or something."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. Dumbass.

_So it wasn't Naruto, not Inuzuka, definitely not Chouji…maybe Shikamaru?_

_No. He's too lazy to do something like this…_

_NEJI!_

_No…he'd do something much more subtle, or something much more embarrassing…_

_Who the hell was it then?_

"Hey! Sasuke!" a loud voice cut through his thoughts.

"What, stupid?" Sasuke asked, annoyed.

"Maybe it was one of the girls?" the blond suggested.

Sasuke smirked.

"Please. Do you really think that they could walk into my room and I wouldn't feel them in there?" he said icily.

_Plus, they'd probably try to molest me or something…_he added privately to himself.

Sasuke stalked out of the crowded and noisy room, he needed to think. He walked back into his room and surveyed it distastefully. What had been a neat and orderly room now looked like a hundred birds had decided to relieve themselves in there. There was white goop everywhere.

Sasuke suddenly remembered something very strange from the night before. He closed his eyes. The image of Hyuuga Hinata dressed in all black a few feet away from the bed came to his mind…had it been a dream?

No, it wasn't possible, it_couldn't_ have been real. From what he had seen of her, she would rather throw herself of a cliff than do something like this. No, she was definitely out.

He sighed and began to get dressed. It was very hard trying not to step in the disgusting cream.

After getting dressed, Sasuke scooped up his book bag and was about to leave the disaster room when something shiny caught his eye. It was under the bed, and he knew it hadn't been there before. Sasuke picked it up and saw what it was.

A hairclip.

So Naruto was right. It HAD been a girl who had done this. Sasuke smirked. She really had to be an idiot to leave something like this behind.

Things suddenly got VERY easy to figure out. He pocketed the hairclip with a smug smile.

As Sasuke walked out of his room and towards his first class, he thought about how much fun this day was going to be. _His _day was going to be very good, but some girl's day was about to take a turn for the worse.

Because no one humiliated an Uchiha and got away with it. _No one._

This girl, whoever she was, was a goner.

-- --

**Thanks for reading, please review.**


	7. Chapter 7

**So...I'm pretty much the worst updater ever known to mankind. What can I say? I love this story, I love my reviewers and I love Naruto. I hope you guys aren't too frustrated with me, just know that I would never ever drop this story. It's my baby. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

**Chapter 7**

-- --

Hyuuga Hinata was having a very good day. The sun was shining, birds were twittering happily, and by the looks of it, Uchiha Sasuke looked royally pissed off.

Life was good.

Hinata suppressed a small smile as she passed the moody, dark-haired prodigy after breakfast. The night before had been hell for her, but it paid off in the end. Revenge was so, so sweet. Although Ino and Sakura had looked ready to murder her, Hinata had no regrets whatsoever. Who knew breaking the rules would feel this good?

Hinata gracefully maneuvered herself through the crowded halls of the school, with an occasional apology here, and a slight gasps as people bumped into her.

"P-pardon Me," she said politely as she stepped on someone's toe, to shy to look the person in the eyes.

"Whatever," the other person said, and Hinata kept her eyes on the floor. _You're welcome._

She had Weaponry first period, and her teacher's name Maito Gai. She was curious about that class; she'd heard it was tough.

Hinata managed to make it to her classroom without any more apologies, and gasped in relief as she entered the large classroom. It looked like…well; one could tell that a weaponry class took place in here. There were targets placed along one wall, opposite from it was an entire wall dedicated to different types of weapons. Katanas, shurikens, knives, axes, spades, spears, arrows, wooden sticks, wooden swords, even senbon. Hinata gulped.

The room smelled like sweat…and blood.

"Hinata!" she jumped as she heard her name called. Turning around, she smiled softly when she saw Kiba's happy grin only feet away from her.

"Good m-morning, Kiba," she said, feeling slightly guilty for what she had done the night before. She tried to keep her face straight.

"Hey, did you hear about last night?" he asked eagerly. _Well, good morning to you too._

Her stomach clenched.

"Um. No. What about last night?" she asked, feigning curiosity.

"What do you mean you didn't hear about it? It's all over the school!"

It is?

_Shit…_

"Um. No I h-haven't," she said meekly, poking her fingers together.

"Well…someone snuck into our dorm and _completely_ sprayed us with whipped cream. They had to have been a pro. I mean, he pranked the ice-prince too!"

She blushed, and took a deep breath to steady herself. In her mind, she willed Kiba to be quiet.

"Oh…r-r-really?" She prayed that she didn't appear guilty.

"Yeah, and it was so amazing too! I mean, very creative and perfect timing. Naruto and I were dying this morning. That guy is my new god."

At the mention of Naruto's name, her heart skipped a beat, and she bowed her head at Kiba's praise.

But sadly, she would be the only one who knew.

"D-do you k-know who m-might have d-done it?" she asked, heart pounding wildly in her chest.

_Please, please, please say no…_

Kiba shrugged, still grinning. "We don't know. But the ice-prince swore that whoever it was, he would kidnap them personally see that they died, and I quote, ' a slow, torturous death involving wrenches and butcher knives'."

Hinata paled. The room suddenly felt very small. She was sweating.

"But he has issues, as we all know. So whatever. But still, how amazing is that?"

"Oh, v-very." Hinata squeaked, collapsing onto the floor. _I am so dead. _

"Hey, Hinata? You ok? You seem kind of pale." Kiba asked, pressing his hand to her cold forehead. It felt warm, and oddly comforting.

"K-kiba-kun? W-Who exactly is t-the i-ice prince?" she asked, torn between wanting and not wanting to know. She already had a pretty good idea of who it was, but wanted to make sure all the same.

"Sasuke, of course. Why?"

"Oh, no r-reason."

Hinata took a deep, steadying breath before completely losing her mind.

Yep, she was definitely a goner.

-o-

Uchiha Sasuke was pissed to say the least.

First, he woke up to find out that _he_ was covered in disgusting goop, the he found out that his _room _was covered in disgusting goop, then he discovered that his freakish fangirls raided his locker- his _gym_ locker- and took all his training clothes. And then, he missed breakfast, trying to find all his crap. And now, he was late for class.

He wanted to punch something.

He burst into the classroom, relieved to find that it hadn't started yet. He looked around, and frowned when he saw that he had basically the same people here as he had in his other classes. All idiots.

_Great, just great._

He picked a spot out in the corner, away from the admiring eyes of the girls, and the death-glares he usually received from the males. How he hated school. Already a chuunin, he couldn't wait until he graduated to Jounin level and then made ANBU. Once he did, he would have an excuse to kill anyone who annoyed him. Things would be so simple then.

"Sasuke-kun!" a loud, obnoxious girlish voice said.

_Here they come._

He didn't' even bother to acknowledge them. "Sasuke, why don't you come and sit with us?"

_I'd rather die._

He folded his arms over his chest, leaned against a wall and deftly ignored them and their giggling. He decided to look around the room. He saw Naruto, Chouji and Shikamaru…being idiotic as usual. Then he saw most of the girls huddled over in one corner, they burst out in whispers once they saw he was staring. In another corner, he saw Hyuuga Hinata meekly talking to Inuzuka Kiba. She seemed to be the only girl in the room not being loud and obnoxious.

Eh, good for her.

After a few more minutes, the opening of the door once more signaled the arrival of their teacher. He ran in so fast all the students saw was a green blur.

"GOOD MORNING! I HOPE YOU ALL ARE SWIMMING IN THE FIREY POOL OF YOUTH THIS FINE DAY!!"

Sasuke winced. Dear god, no.

The teacher that suddenly ran in seemed to be wearing a….green spandex jumpsuit. A _skin-tight_ green spandex jumpsuit. He didn't seem to be wearing anything underneath either.

Sasuke truly didn't know whether to smirk, cry, scream, laugh or just plain walk out of the classroom. This was too much to bear.

Students were laughing and muttering to themselves, others averting their eyes, and Sasuke was among them. He was _not _putting up with this ridiculous school just to see some middle aged man's family jewels swinging around everywhere.

"SO! Today we are going to embark on a new journey!! YOUTH SHALL OVERCOME! ALL OF YOU, A RACE-TWELVE LAPS AROUND THE CAMPUS!"

Everyone groaned. Sasuke glared. Was this man on drugs?

"We won't have time, Sensei. The campus is way too big," someone piped up.

"TIME? TIME IS NO FACTOR! YOU ARE ALL NINJA! YOUTHFUL NINJAS! GO!"

Sasuke was the first one up.

At least it would keep him in shape.

The class went outside, grumbling, muttering, and wishing a million painful deaths upon their mental teacher. He lined them all up, and they tensed, waiting for his mark to start the race.

"ANNDDD START!" Gai shouted, blowing his whistle.

They were off.

Sasuke found it was better to start his fastest, that way he could leave everyone else behind and then rest up ahead. It was what he usually did, sort of like the rabbit the story. But the rabbit, unlike Sasuke, was stupid. He would never let his guard down and let others surpass him. He liked the feel of pushing his muscles to the limit, and the satisfaction that came with knowing he was the best.

After a few seconds of sprinting, Sasuke looked back, most of the class had been left behind, save for a few. Naruto was in second place, about thirty meters away. And behind him- Sasuke stumbled when he saw who it was.

It was a girl. Wow, who was she? He was running too fast to notice, but he didn't care, he would catch a glimpse of her once they hit the curve.

Panting, Sasuke sprinted on, slowing down for the curve so he didn't fall. Once he hit it, he turned his head slightly to see who the girl was. He saw white skin and caught a glimpse of a baggy gray sweater.

The Hyuuga girl? That was unexpected.

He smirked and ran on.

-0-

Hinata's legs were numb, she had four different stitches in her stomach, she couldn't breathe, and her breath was coming out in short, ragged gasps. But still, she didn't' slow.

_Stay right behind him….right behind Naruto._

Her plan was to catch up to him once he slowed down. But it didn't seem like that would happen soon. But it had to happen _sometime, _didn't it? Until it did, she would hold out.

She was in third place, as far as she could tell. Naruto was second and the Uchiha in first. She didn't even know why she was killing herself like this; just that she felt the need to prove herself to Naruto.

He was a fast runner. But luckily, so was she.

Hinata stayed a meters behind him for the first few laps, letting him set both their paces. Which was stupid, since Naruto seemed to have the endurance of a horse and he completely sprinted the first few laps. But then once she saw and opening where she could attempt to get closer to him, she forced her legs to speed up. They were cramping, and her body was screaming at her to stop, but as always, she didn't heed the message and sped up, it was beyond painful.

She tried her hardest to swallow as she got a few feet behind him, and then diagonal from him…and finally next to him. So she melted once she saw his face close up. Big deal.

He looked utterly concentrated, beads of sweat falling from his perfectly tanned face down to his bare neck, each short breath in perfect time with his legs, he seemed completely unfazed, and looked as if he could run 100 miles an hour for the rest of eternity. His body was a perfectly running machine, hers sounded like a broken down car.

_Just keep moving your legs, don't stop, its all going to be over soon._

She smiled inwardly as she saw Naruto's look of surprise as she drew up with him. They were running too fast to talk, but she awarded him a smile all the same.

Her smile turned to a small smirk as she passed him. Had she been bolder, then she would have winked. But, Hinata being Hinata, did not. And she knew she would beat herself up for it later.

Oh the complexities of being a girl.

She ran on, never stopping until she knew Naruto had gotten the message that she was a faster runner than him…until she felt his loud breathing right next to her. The look on his face clearly told her that he would not let her beat him.

_Have it your way then._

So she sped up. And was happy to find that he did too. Her legs were so beyond pain, they had turned numb. Hinata knew that no way would she be walking that night, but still, she kept going.

They kept up their little pattern- she speeds up, he speeds up, she speeds up again, he speeds up again- until at last they reached the final stretch of the final lap. Hinata ignored the astonished looks of her classmates as Naruto and she passed them again and again.

But they still hadn't managed to catch up to Sasuke. Not that she cared.

Naruto decided to start sprinting the last few meters, and Hinata decided to start sprinting too. She knew she was going to collapse as soon as she stopped, but hell, she'd come all this way, she was not about to stop.

As they crossed the tree Gai was reclining against, they slowed to a stop.

Hinata collapsed on the floor.

All of a sudden, the pain came back, a hundred-fold worse. Her legs began to tremble, and her heart was beating so fast she couldn't breathe.

Naruto had thrown himself on the grass, chest heaving, while Sasuke was leaning against a tree, also trying to regain his composure on the grass.

" NOW DIDN'T THAT RUN SPARK SOME PASSION INSIDE YOUR YOUTHFUL HEARTS?! YOU THREE HAVE SET A NEW RECORD!!"

Hinata merely smiled, she couldn't will her body to do anything else. The floor was tilting upwards, and she felt her head spin, her stomach lurching as well. Maybe running like that hadn't been a good idea…

"Hinata….that…was….amazing," Naruto gasped out. He crawled over to where she was laying on the ground, spread-eagled, and trying not to vomit. "I'm…i-impressed."

Her face flushed more than it was already. She smiled giddily at the warm feeling that spread all over her body at his praise.

"T-thank y-you N-Naruto Kun," she wheezed, noticing their close proximity. She never wanted to move.

They lay there for a few minutes, as the rest of the class slowly trickled in. It took most of the remaining time to get everyone in, since Shikamaru had decided to walk. So long, that Hinata dozed off, the floor was just too comfortable.

"THAT WAS VERY IMPRESSIVE! I am proud of all of you! Now tomorrow, we start with only seven laps, and then we get to working with the weapons!" Gai shouted gleefully, bouncing up down. "DISMISSED!"

Hinata slowly opened her eyes. Her legs felt like complete lead, as did her entire body. She tried to get up, but then collapsed again. She couldn't move for the world. Everyone was already leaving, most of them complaining about what they had just done.

_None of them sprinted the whole thing...what do they have to complain about?_

She tried again, and managed to get to her knees. Her entire body just felt so heavy, so she hadn't wanted to move? She got her wish. No one was stopping to help her…they were all too busy thinking about lunch.

Even Naruto.

"Ok…here we go again," she mumbled to herself. She attempted to lift herself using her arms, but found that an excruciating pain filled her entire body as she uncurled one leg. She yelped out in pain and closed her eyes. Everyone had gone to lunch. And now she was stuck out here, in the huge field, practically paralyzed. Once again, she was facing the consequences of her actions.

She tried to left her other leg up…but felt the same pain shoot through her leg and up to her hips. She grit her teeth in pain.

So running like that had definitely _not_ been the smartest idea. She tried to stand up again, but to no avail.

"Here," a deep voice caused her to jump and open her eyes.

She gasped when she saw Uchiha Sasuke standing in front of her, extending his arm for her to take it.

"Erm…" Hinata stared at it for a few seconds before looking at him disbelievingly. Was she hallucinating?

"If you're going to take it, take it. If not, then goodbye," Sasuke snapped, dropping his arm and turning to leave.

"W-Wait," she mumbled softly.

Sasuke turned around and impatiently reached out again.

Grabbing a little of him as she could, Hinata heaved herself to her feet, hissing as her body cried out in pain.

"O-ow." she muttered, swaying a bit on the spot. Her knees buckled a little when she took a step and she unconsciously reached out to grab his shoulder. He wrapped an arm around her waist, steadying her.

"Your body's too weak for you to run like that," he pointed out bluntly.

_Thank you, Captain Obvious._

Her face flushed red out of embarrassment, and the fact that she realized that his arm was still around her waist. Her heart started beating at his close proximity; she stepped away, only to find her knees buckle again, once again she steadied herself by putting a hand on his shoulder.

"S-s-sorry," she apologized, too embarrassed to meet his face. Why was it always him that saw her in the most difficult of situations? He probably thought she was some weak crybaby.

And suddenly, he let go. She swayed, but luckily her knees did not collapse this time.

"T-thank y-you," she said, looking at the floor, and slowly began to walk towards the main building. Each tiny step hurt like hell, but anything was better than standing around like that with the school prodigy.

"You're kind of heavy," Sasuke frowned, folding his arms across his chest.

Hinata felt her face burn. What a charming young man.

"Thank you," she repeated softly. She kept her head and low and continued on her way.

Sasuke just stood there smirking, watching her leave.

His day had just gotten very promising.

As she walked away his eye had caught something glinting off the sun in her hair. He looked at it closely.

It was a hairclip.

The same exact type of hairclip he found under his bed the night before.

Sasuke stared at Hinata's retreating back. He was shocked. Apparently one could not judge this girl by her shy demeanor.

Whatever his revenge was, it was her fault for leaving the hairclip behind in the first place.

He had some planning to do.

-- --

**I'm sorry if there were any mistakes. I read over them, but I can't always catch them all. I'm only human.**

**Thank you for reading (and for being so patient), please review**


	8. Chapter 8

**314 REVIEWS. OMG. Wow...just..I don't even know what to say. I love you all SOOO much. You're the best readers...it makes me so happy to know that my work is appreciated and liked. I know there hasn't been much romance yet...but I want to make it seem realistic...because honestly, I doubt anyone would want to read some rushed love story with nothing interesting in-between. So yeah. I really cannot wait to start writing some of the later chapters because I have SOO many ideas for this story to add spins on it. Hehe, ok. enough rambling, on with the chapter.**

**Chapter 8**

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Stifling a yawn as best as she could, Hinata idly doodled on a scrap sheet of paper as Hatake Kakashi droned on and on about the many different uses of Chakra. He'd done nothing but stand at the front of the classroom and read from a humongous scroll. Honestly, it was as if the man was _purposely _making the class so damn boring. His monotonous voice made Hinata want to scream.

Resting her head in her hands, she looked around the room and found that she wasn't the only one who was on the verge of insanity. More than half the class had succumbed to blank stares-or in Naruto's case-had fallen asleep completely. Others had taken to passing notes, and Kakashi didn't' seem to mind. What a teacher.

Hinata suppressed a giggle as she stared at Naruto's sleeping form. He had completely collapsed onto his desk, and his lips were slightly parted as he breathed deeply. The sun shining through the window made his tan skin glow, and Hinata felt her lips form a small smile as she stared. _Why…why can't he notice me?_

It had been a few weeks since the whole running incident, and Hinata noticed with great dismay that Naruto seemed keener on Sakura than ever. He was, for lack of a better word, obsessed. Hinata sighed. She really couldn't blame him. Sakura was gorgeous. The long pink hair, the bright green eyes, and her outgoing personality made Sakura any guy's dream girl. Not to mention she was super smart. Hinata felt extremely awkward and plain next to her.

_So really…why would Naruto like **me** when Sakura's around?_

The answer: he wouldn't.

Hinata sighed again and stared out the window. Life sucked. School sucked.

Everything sucked.

She glanced at Naruto again. He was…drooling a little.

She smiled softly. He really should _not_ be allowed to be this cute. She doodled a heart on her paper, with the initials U.N H.H inside of it. It was a five year old thing to do, she knew, but who cared? She liked him, and needed to get it out in the open _somehow_.

"Got crush on the _dobe_, I see."

Hinata jumped and squeaked. She turned around and locked eyes with none other than Uchiha Sasuke's cold scowl.

_Oh shit…_

"W-w-what?" she squeaked, pressing the tips of her fingers together. "N-no! W-what a-are you t-talking about?" she whispered frantically. Hinata looked around, praying that no one had heard his statement. The asshole, he'd said it so damn loudly.

"I'm talking about the fact that you haven't stopped smiling and staring at him since you sat down for class, Hyuuga," he said, staring at her impassively.

She blushed a deep shade of red. No, no, NO. Had she really been that obvious? Oh god. She was screwed. So screwed.

"M-me? P-please, l-leave me alone Uchiha-san," she whispered, embarrassed.

He smirked for a few seconds, making her extremely uncomfortable. She fidgeted nervously, waiting for him to say something. Then without warning, he reached over and snatched the sheet of paper where she was supposed to be writing down her 'notes.'

It was the same paper that she'd drawn all the hearts on.

"Tch. What's all this then?" the stoic Uchiha whispered, smirking evilly, holding the paper up. He stared at it for a few seconds with a mixture of amusement and disgust in his face.

"N-n-nothing," she responded automatically. Good lord, could she stutter any more? She was _so_ red, and her palms were sweaty.

This was not good for her heart.

"C-could y-you please g-give m-my notes b-back?" she asked politely, ignoring the strange looks she was starting to receive from her classmates.

_Please, please, PLEASE say yes._

"No."

_DAMN IT._

Hinata was desperate; the asshole had evidence that could incriminate her! The _last_ thing she needed was for everyone to know she had a crush on Naruto. Worse…the Uchiha would probably tell Naruto _himself._ Hinata nearly fainted. She could NOT let that happen.

"P-please?"

"No."

If Hinata were capable, she would have torn those black eyes right out of that pretty-boy face and fed them to hungry sharks. Yes, she was THAT angry. She reached out for the paper but the Uchiha pulled back, smirk in place. Hinata wanted to pull her hair out in frustration.

"Hey! You two in the back, stop flirting."

She jumped and turned around. Kakashi was at the front of the classroom, looking at her and the Sasuke with a rather amused expression- and so was everyone else. She was now leaning over Sasuke's desk in an attempt to get her paper back…and she guessed her position was slightly…questionable. Great.

Kakashi's comment rang in her ears. So did the silence that emanated throughout the classroom at his statement. She felt her face turn the deepest shade of red. Hinata slowly turned around and settled herself back in her seat. Everyone was staring at her…one could hear a pin drop in the room. This was pure _torture_.

_Kakashi. Must. DIE. _

Hadn't everyone been asleep? What the hell happened? Hinata felt like she was being torn apart by her classmate's eyes. Never in her life had she been so embarrassed. She had NOT been flirting with him, damn it! She was just trying to get her stupid paper back! God, what the hell kind of teacher WAS this man? She waited for Sasuke to say something, anything to contradict the amused teacher. But no…he stayed quiet. His silence affirmed Kakashi's comment.

Everyone else thought so too.

Hinata kept her eyes resignedly on her hands in her lap. She refused to meet anyone's eyes even though they were all waiting for her to do so. The silence that rang through the classroom was unbearable. One last glance at the Uchiha told her he was smirking smugly…as if embarrassing her beyond a doubt had been his final goal all along.

Hinata took a deep breath and refused to cry again…why couldn't she open her mouth to defend herself? Hinata had a nasty feeling that she was going to be attacked by someone sometime throughout the day.

And he still had the fucking paper. Hinata slowly buried her head in her arms.

_Why me?_

-o-

"What the hell was that all about, Hinata?"

"You were FLIRTING with Sasuke-kun?"

"He's mine Hyuuga, just to let you know."

Hinata had been right. She was attacked by teenage girls on her way to the bathroom. They had pushed her in, and refused to let her out until she answered most of their questions. It was complete Déjà vu from her initiation night. And the worse part about it was, she really, _really_ had to go pee.

"Look, Hinata. Just leave Sasuke-kun alone, alright? You're really nice and everything, but it's a lost cause. You don't want your feelings hurt," Sakura told her.

Hinata felt indignation rise up in her chest. _Just open your mouth…and say something._

"I mean, if you don't mind having your heart cut up into little pieces and flung back at you, then be my guest," she muttered. "But trust me; I know what I'm talking about."

_But I don't like him…_

"What? How exactly would_ you_ know about something like that?" Ino asked, taking makeup out of Sakura's bag.

Sakura didn't answer, she just smiled at Hinata and turned to the mirror, not noticing the way Ino narrowed her eyes at her. Not wanting to be around for an awkward moment, Hinata quietly made her way into a stall to heed nature's calling.

She appeared out her stall a minute later, only to find that Sakura and Ino were squabbling over some lip cover thing…at least that's what it looked like. It was long pink stick that rose out a black tube when twisted. Eh, whatever….Hinata wouldn't be using that anytime soon.

"So Hinata, in all seriousness, just watch out," Sakura said as Hinata washed her hands.

"But I don't e-even t-tolerate him. He's so m-mean to everyone," Hinata said meekly, as dried her hands. "He's a jerk."

They didn't answer, only gave her look that plainly said they did not believe her. Hinata figured this was her cue to go.

"Nice t-talking to you g-guys. Goodbye," she said politely, and rushed out of the bathroom, digging in her bag for some money.

So intent was Hinata in digging through her bag that she didn't realize there was someone in her way until too late.

"Oof!" she grunted, as she walked into someone headfirst. Hinata gasped as that someone shoved her back with enough force to cause her to stumble backwards and onto the floor. Her books flew all over the place as her bag landed upside down.

_This just happens on a daily basis, doesn't it?_

"S-sorry," she apologized from the floor. Scrambling down to pick her books up, she was mildly irritated to find that the person she had crashed into was not bending down to help her, but was rather just standing there like a complete idiot, looking down at her.

"You're clumsy."

Hinata hid her eyes with her bangs. She knew that voice by now.

_Don't rush to help or anything…you smug bastard._

As she kneeled on the floor re-packing all her papers, backside throbbing, the stoic boy just stood there…causing Hinata to become more and more enraged by the second. Just WHAT was his problem? There were a hundred other girls who would fall at his feet…so why did he constantly have to pick on her?

As she finally got her last book back in her heavy bag, the Uchiha finally decided to say something.

"Here."

Sasuke threw a few stray papers down at her face.

"T-thank y-you," she said softly, desperately trying not to let him know he was getting to her.

Which he was; any more of his taunting and she would gentle-fist his pale ass into next week.

After she put her final piece of paper back in her bag she stood up and had every intention of walking away with whatever dignity she had left when he stopped her.

"Y-yes?" she asked, ignoring the fact that he was, yet again, invading her personal space by grabbing her forearm roughly.

"Library. Tomorrow. 7:30. And don't be late." Sasuke said coldly. He released her arm just as roughly as he had grabbed it.

"W-why?" Hinata asked, horrified. Over her dead body was she spending anymore time with this…_human being.._

"For our project," he said shortly. "Or did you think I was going to do all the work?"

"No, I did not," she muttered, staring at the floor. "I'll b-be t-there."

As soon as she said that, he turned on his heel and walked away without another word, leaving Hinata alone in the now empty hall.

Empty?

She looked at her watch…she was five minutes late to class…_Tsunade's_ class. Hell.

She might as well go buy her coffin.

She was dead anyway.

-0-

Uchiha Sasuke was a lot of things. He was mean, he was cold, he was gorgeous, and he was smart.

He was also a sadistic bastard.

Sasuke tried hard not to smile as he thought of the Hyuuga girl's flustered face when he stole her paper from her. He _was _the Ice-Prince after all. Smiling in public was a major no-no. But still…he never would have thought embarrassing the blue-haired girl was going to be so amusing. He was really curious about how someone persuaded to do what she did the first day of school. Hinata was so…shy and quiet. She was the last person he expected to do something like that.

But eh…who cared? He was getting his revenge in the most fulfilling way.

Sasuke was currently sitting in class, pretending to pay attention to what Kakashi was saying. He knew it all already. Sasuke tried to occupy his mind with something interesting. Having the crazy Hatake Kakashi for one class was bad, but having him for two was complete torture.

But...his mind kept going back to Hinata's pleading face as she asked for her paper back. Had he been too mean?

Nah.

She brought it upon herself after all.

But the thought unsettled him. Even though he barely knew the girl…Sasuke began to feel uneasy about nearly reducing her to tears. Not uneasy enough to stop though. He was going to make her life hell. Why? Because he felt like it, and because he could. It wasn't as if the quiet girl would _ever_ standup for herself.

-0-

"Hey Uchiha!"

He continued walking.

"Uchiha, I know you hear me!"

_I don't want to speak to you morons. Leave me alone._

"Sasuke! BASTARD!"

"What the hell do you want?"

Sasuke found himself face to face with and annoyed-looking Kiba and a curious-looking Naruto.

"What's this we hear about you and Hinata-chan flirting?" Kiba asked suspiciously.

Sasuke smirked. News did travel fast.

"_Hinata-chan_? I didn't think you two were so close, Inuzuka."

Sasuke noticed with some satisfaction that Kiba turned a light shade of red.

_Well, well, well… _

"That's not the point, Princess Prissy."

Sasuke winced at the nickname but said nothing. "Hurry up and tell me then, I don't have all day."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Look…Hinata's _nice_, alright? Leave her alone…go for someone else. Not her, she's my friend and I don't want you to ruin her first year here. Got that?" he asked fiercely.

_You moron…if only you knew, _Sasuke thought.

"Got that?" Kiba repeated, leaning against the nearest wall.

"Whatever. Idiots" Sasuke snapped. He turned around and walked away from them. As he did so, he heard Naruto ask Kiba if he ever found out who pranked them the first day of school.

If they only knew that it was _Hinata-chan_ who had done it in the first place.

Sasuke smirked as he passed by Hinata. It seemed as if she was purposely keeping her head on the ground.

Things were about to get very interesting.

-- --

**And yeah, in case anyone was wondering, I DID change my pen name. I like this better than my other one...it seemed too...I dunno, random? Eh..I don't know. This one just reflects me better. Plus it's my favorite color. Hee. And again, I apologize for any mistakes. I hope if you caught any, they didn't throw you off the story.**

**Thank you for reading, reviews are love and they make my day.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Umm. I don't really have much to say, except Sorry for taking so long to update. Oh, and a humongous THANK YOUUUUU to everyone who reviewed. I'm so glad that people are enjoying my story! I love you all. **

**Disclaimer: Hello? Me? Own it? Psh, I effing wish.**

**Chapter 9**

-0-

Hinata's muscles trembled under all the pressure exerted on them. Beads of sweat ran down her face and disappeared into her neck. Her legs were on fire, any more of this torture and she would explode into a million little pieces. Her breathing was become more ragged by the second.

_You can do this._

Hinata closed her eyes and held in the loud groan of pain that was fighting to escape her. She clenched her teeth and endured. _Just a few more seconds to go..._

"Annnnnnd RELAX!"

Hinata opened her eyes and collapsed to the floor in a heap, exhausted and out of breath. Looking around the room, she noted how she'd been one of the few people left standing.

"That was very, very good! Now, FIVE MORE SETS OF EVERYTHING!"

The entire class let out a collective groan. They were doing 'core-work', as Gai called it. Apparently that meant a workout consisting of 80 push-ups, hundreds of sit-ups, squats, sprints, lunges, and anything else that came to his mind. Hinata had a nagging suspicion he thought of all his lessons on the spot. It figured. They had just been doing squats…long squats, it felt as if she'd been crouched in that position for hours.

Thankfully, class was over just as Gai had split up the class for the various workouts. Hinata was surprised to find herself disappointed. She _liked_ the workouts. She liked to see how far she could push her body before it collapsed completely. It beat sitting around in a dingy old classroom listening to some teacher drone on and on about the history of Genjutsu, at least. It seemed she was the only one with this opinion however, the rest of the class seemed extremely relieved. She pouted unconsciously; she wished Gai's class were longer. Training was fun.

Hinata was the last one to leave the gym, as she took her time stretching her tired muscles at the end of every class. But suddenly she felt like she was being watched. Hinata kept her eyes on the floor as she walked towards the exit, but just as she was about to walk through, Hinata decided to chance it and throw a glance over her shoulder. She was incredibly shocked to see Uchiha Sasuke's pearl-black eyes fixed on her from the other side of gym. Hinata suddenly felt extremely self-conscious. Their eyes met for a fraction of a second, and comically, they both looked away instantly as if they had been scorched. Hinata felt herself blush as she stumbled clumsily out of the gymnasium, a flurry of embarrassment and confusion. Why would he be staring at her like that? And more importantly, for how long?

-0-

Sasuke walked into the men's locker room, intrigued about what had happened minutes earlier with Hinata. _Why did I do that?_

Oblivious to everything, Sasuke changed silently, trying to find out why exactly he had caught himself staring at Hyuuga Hinata while she stretched Not to mention, she had actually _noticed_ too. Ugh. That could cause some problems. Why had even done it in the first place? Because she was alright looking?

But so what? A lot of girls were. Hinata didn't really have anything going for her. She wasn't talented at anything, she barely stood out…and she wasn't a gorgeous beauty like Ino, Sakura or any other of her female classmates were. So then why, out of all the girls in he had ever known, did _she_ plague his mind so much?

The image of her fury the first time they met swam into his brain. He'd been a total asshole for no reason, and she really did deserve to hate him. He smiled to himself as he vaguely remembered the flush on her cheeks, and the way she had said nothing to stand up for herself, instead merely walking away with her face hidden in her bangs. Maybe that was why he preyed on her so much. She was weak, and being the sadistic bastard he was, he took advantage of that. It was just too easy to push her buttons near breaking point, Sasuke found himself intoxicated with the power he had over her emotions. Hinata was too sensitive, too immature, he had no idea how she would survive the rest of the year. Let alone the next few years.

Sasuke also knew most of the girls in the school swooned at the mere sight of him, yet she didn't. On the contrary, she seemed to not want to spend time with him at all. He remembered the horror on her face when he told her they would have to meet in the library…alone. He almost chuckled to himself. Any other female would have giggled and acted obnoxious.

So Hinata wasn't that bad, he concluded. She seemed mildly complex, and he would have fun dissecting the many layers (that he suspected, hoped) made her up. As for the reason why was doing it, Sasuke had no idea. He just knew that some part of him- a very tiny part- wanted to get closer to her.

_It shouldn't be too hard_, he thought with a wicked smirk as he passed her in the hallway minutes later, her fingers pressed together as she walked alone. There was a calm, serene smile on her face; she looked at ease, something that never happened when she was within ten feet of him. The peaceful look on her face caught him off guard. He swallowed, and caught himself staring at her again…he vaguely wondered what she hid underneath that bulky sweater of hers. When he realized his thoughts, he almost smacked himself for being such a pervert.

_What the hell is going on with me?_

-0-

The weeks flew by, and with much relief, Hinata noted how her life became much more comfortable within the walls of Hidden Leaf. She became more at ease around the people that had accepted her, got to know her teachers more, and was ecstatic to find Sasuke keeping his distance. Yes, life was good for Hinata. Despite the fact that she seemed to almost pass out whenever Naruto spoke to her, or walked by her…or did anything around her. Why had she allowed herself to become so obsessed? It wasn't healthy, especially since he did not return her feelings.

One particularly sunny morning, she awoke to find most of the girls in her year huddled around Tenten's bed, whispering frantically. She groaned inwardly. It was the weekend, and she wanted to sleep in, not be woken up by a bunch of gossips at the crack of dawn.

Hinata rolled over, but sleep eluded her. The giggling and happy chatter was too noisy. For a few minutes she lay there, but eventually decided to do something about it. Annoyed, she sat up, and glared at everyone in the room. Not that they noticed, of course.

"She's up!" someone said happily.

Ugh. No. Too early for psychotic teenage girls.

"Hinata, did you hear?" Ino chirped, sitting at the foot of her bed and bouncing up and down. The other girls moved from Tenten's bed and congregated around hers. Hinata suddenly felt extremely self-conscious. They were all dressed and bathed, and she was still wrapped around her covers, in her ratty pajamas and no doubt had crusty stuff in the corners of her eyes. Hinata rubbed her eyes sleepily. How early did these girls get up on a Saturday morning?

"Oh come on, hurry and wake up," Ino said impatiently, punching her leg playfully.

"I am up," Hinata muttered, somewhat annoyed. She allowed herself once last yawn before opening her eyes for good.

"Do you know what today is?" Tenten asked brightly, eyes flooding with excitement. Hinata reclined into her pillows.

"Saturday?" she mumbled sleepily.

"No, silly. It's the first day of winter!" Tenten laughed.

_Umm. What?_

"A-am I m-missing something?" Hinata asked shyly, pulling her covers around her. She was only _slightly_ frightened.

"Every year, on the first day of winter there's usually this major convention or something, for all the faculty members," Temari explained from her spot on the windowsill. She was the only one that seemed remotely calm.

"So they all leave campus for about two days to go over there. So usually there are no classes and it's just the students. Well, except for the security ninja that they leave posted everywhere, to help with meals and everything," she said.

"And that just happens to be today!" Tenten giggled, suddenly sprinting to her closet and rummaging through the things there, complaining about not having clothes to suit the weather.

Most of the girls glanced at her to join in on the excitement. But Hinata was still lost.

"And that's e-exiting because…" Hinata trailed off, pressing her fingers together, curious.

"You're so naive, Hinata-chan. It's adorable."

It was Sakura who had spoken. She was staring at Hinata with a mixture of amusement and fondness. Hinata tried to disappear under her covers even more. Did naïve here mean incredibly stupid?

"W-why is t-that?"

Ino laughed again. "Don't you get it? No faculty means no teachers. No teachers means no rules. No rules means no one to tell us what to do. And that means…"

"Sneaking out!" Sakura finished for her, actually managing to do a cartwheel in the cramped room. They all cheered, and immediately launched into talk of plans for 'later tonight'.

"S-sneaking out? As in, out o-of the s-school?" she asked, praying to god the answer was a no.

"No Hinata. Sneaking out of the cafeteria. _Of course _the school," Ino said sarcastically, "We're all so sick of being cooped up in here."

Cooped up? What? The campus was huge! There were all types of fields, and there was a humongous pool, there were courtyards and tables and flower-lined paths and cute little creeks. Sheesh, what were these people, blind?

"So, right after lunch, we usually meet up here then wait around until the last of them leaves campus. Then, we bribe the security guards and then sneak out to town," Ino suppiled, jumping on Tenten's now empty bed. "So we'll meet you back here right after morning classes today, okay?"

Yeah, right. She had barely survived through sneaking out of the _dorm rooms,_ did they seriously expect her to sneak out of the _school? _She would rather chew off her own arm. It was way too risky.

"I d-don't t-think I can go," Hinata muttered, embarrassed by her own cowardice.

"What? Why?"

Hinata opened her mouth, but then stopped herself. Why, exactly was she too afraid to go? Because she would get hurt? Because they could get caught? Because for once in her monotonous life she would actually be doing something fun? Hinata sighed. If her father were here he would just lock her up in her room for the night, even though there would have been no chance of her going anyway.

_And I'll just be a burden._

She realized with a heavy heart that the other girls where staring at her expectantly. She was shocked to find that they actually _wanted_ her to go with them. Ino especially, looked the most deflated.

"Please?" Ino asked, sincerely.

"I-I.." Hinata faltered, looking down at her hands. "I w-want to go b-but-"

"Then come," Ino said firmly, getting up. "Don't be scared, we do this every year and nothing happens. Don't worry, we won't get caught, and _nothing_ will happen to you."

Hinata sighed again. Should she dare?

"Besides," Temari piped up suddenly, "_Everyone'_s going", she said, emphasizing word 'everyone'.

Hinata's head snapped up, and she stared at Temari.

"Everyone?" She repeated, not stuttering for once.

"Everyone." Temari answered, looking at her. Hinata caught the knowing glint in Temari's eyes and ducked her head, blushing. So Temari knew about her teensy crush on a certain blue-eyed blond. Was she really that obvious about it?

Eventually Hinata smiled, her mind made up. "F-fine. I-I'll go." Ino cheered and launched herself on Hinata.

_Hopefully, I won't regret this._

-o-

Hinata yawned and stared at the blackboard, trying her hardest to process the information that her teacher was droning on about. It didn't work.

She sighed impatiently. Just her luck. Her morning class was with Kakashi. She had a feeling he knew exactly what everyone in the class was planning to do the second all the teachers left campus. The stupid man was purposely making the class as long and boring as possible. Hinata could see the twinkle of amusement in the teacher's eye.

_Oh damn him._

As everyone was fidgeting and pretending to take notes, Hinata noticed that Uchiha Sasuke's eyes were trained on her. Again. Heat rose to her cheeks. What was his problem? Maybe he wasn't staring at _her_ per se. Maybe he was looking at someone else behind her. She turned her head to see who else was in her general area. Just a fish tank.

_Somehow I doubt he's staring at Kakashi's turtles._

She decided to return his gaze with a glare, and was pleased to see he quickly averted his gaze. Score one for Hinata. If she were capable, she would have smirked evilly. Hinata wouldn't let him get to her anymore.

-o-

Although it seemed like an eternity, the bell rang eventually, signaling the end of class. Hinata was amused by the sheer speed everyone fled the classroom. She took her time, knowing that speeding through everything wouldn't make the teachers leave any quicker. In a dreamlike state, she wandered through the halls and into her room, fantasizing about what the night would bring.

"HINATA!"

She jumped and was startled out of her reverie when she entered her room and found that it had been…transformed.

There were clothes everywhere, on the bed, the floor, the desks, even in the bathtub. Ino, Sakura, and some other girls had apparently decided to turn their rooms in some kind of…headquarters.

"Hinata-chan, hurry up! The teachers are leaving soon and you're not ready!" Ino cried, rushing over to Hinata and grabbing her hand.

Hinata gasped at Ino's outfit. It was a bit…risqué, to say the least. Her turquoise low-cut shirt hugged all her curves perfectly, and the pants she was wearing were low-cut enough to reveal a strip of flat stomach, but it was her face that drew Hinata's attention. Her big blue eyes were sparkling with happiness, and the small quirk of her mouth let Hinata know Ino was one she could trust. Ino was practically glowing.

Hinata could only gape and be envious of Ino's beauty. She wondered what put her into such a good mood.

"Ino! Where'd you leave the jewelry box?" Sakura called from bathroom.

"Look for it!" Ino called back, physically forcing Hinata to plonk down on the nearest chair.

"W-what are y-you doing?" Hinata asked, horrified as Ino whipped out a rather lethal-looking lip-stick.

"Doing your make-up," Ino responded, as if it were the most obvious thing ever.

Heck no.

Hinata jumped out of the chair as if scalded. "No thank you," she said as politely as she could. "I don't wear make-up."

Ino huffed, annoyed, "Fine."

Hinata let out a sigh of relief, but then grew wary again as Ino drew out three dresses and threw them at Hinata.

"Try those on."

"Why c-can't I go in w-what I'm wearing n-now?" Hinata complained, taking a few steps back.

"Oh come on, Hinata," Ino begged, "Indulge me. I think you would look adorable in one these."

Hinata always was, and always would be, a people pleaser. She knew that she really didn't want to wear the dresses, but she couldn't bear to disappoint Ino, who looked much too eager.

"Alright," Hinata sighed, picking a dress. She knew the second she donned it that it wasn't for her. Too short, too bright, too tight.

The next one was equally bad, if not worse. It was _leopard print_. Hinata could not get out of the thing fast enough. It was a skin-tight, leopard-print mini-dress. No way.

"See?" Hinata said, donning her trademark bulky sweater after she had tried on the dresses "I w-would never wear something l-like _that_ in public."

Ino was know in full-on fashion mode, and she had decided that she would get Hinata out of her usually boring clothes if it was the last thing she did. It would be better if she had more time, but Sakura and Tenten were standing at the door, looking impatient.

"You guys leave," Ino said, pausing her manic searching through her wardrobe. "Hinata's not ready yet."

"Yes I am!" Hinata said indignantly.

"No, you're not, Hinata-chan," Ino said firmly, closing the matter. With a small shrug, Tenten and Sakura departed, eager to leave campus.

"Ino, please," Hinata whined. "You're wasting your time. We b-both know I-I'm h-hopeless when it comes t-to this." Ino didn't answer; she only kept digging through her closet in search of something. Hinata had to admit, she was starting to get slightly scared.

"AHA!" Ino shouted suddenly, making Hinata jump. "Here it is!"

"W-what?"

Triumphantly, Ino turned around to reveal the item she had been searching for with so much ardor- a plain black dress.

"This is PERFECT." Ino said happily, throwing Hinata the dress. Haltingly, Hinata took it. It _looked_ ok for her to wear. She put it on carefully, it was made of soft velvet, and she was pleased see that it hit about an inch above her knee. It had sleeves, thankfully, and it was a simple V-Neck, and it wasn't too tight, but it wasn't a sack either. Perfect. She smiled at Ino.

"Thank you, Ino." Hinata said sincerely, looking at herself in the mirror. The effect was astonishing. Completely different than how she normally looked.

"Now for the shoes…" Ino muttered. Hinata froze. She would never be able to walk in the type of shoes Ino wore.

"I a-actually h-have s-something that might work." Hinata said, as she looked through her own closet and found a pair of pristine white flats. If there was ever a 'Hinata Shoe', this was it. Delicate and modest, they were a perfect mirror of Hinata's style and personality.

Ino took advantage of Hinata's good mood and managed to trace a hint of eyeliner and a spot of blush on her cheeks before being swatted away. After this was done, Ino stood back to admire her handiwork. Hinata had been transformed, she looked elegant and confident. The dress flaunted what needed to be seen, and hid other aspects of Hinata that would have made her uncomfortable. The touch of eyeliner brought out Hinata's white eyes daringly, so that they looked deep and large.

"Oh my, Hinata," Ino said, admiring her handiwork. "You'll have Naruto drooling in no time." Hinata blushed and looked down, not even bothering to ask how she knew. It seemed everyone did, but Naruto himself. She tried not to dwell on it.

And with Hinata finally ready, the two set off.

As they sneaked out the school and through the back gate, Hinata was surprised to see that she felt exited, rather than fearful. It would be her first party, she felt beautiful and confident and ready to take on anything.

"D-do you know w-where we're g-going?" Hinata asked, as they weaved through the dark streets lined with shops.

"Yep, a club,"

"As in…d-dance c-club?" Hinata asked, feeling her stomach clench.

"Yes. It's so exiting; everyone's going to be there! I heard even some students from out of the country, too! Tonight's going to be a big night, Hinata-chan, I can feel it," Ino said, her voice saturated with excitement. "I also feel like getting a bit drunk. So don't make fun of me later, all right?"

"All r-right," Hinata, voice shaking slightly. She suddenly went being from confident to meek and scared. Club? Dancing? Foreigners? _Booze_? She was starting to regret coming along. That did not sound fun to her at all.

As they rounded a corner, Hinata suddenly heard the faint beats of loud music. Then came the loud chatter of people, the laughing, shouting, yelling. Hinata's heart was in her throat as they rounded a corner and came across the loudest gathering of people Hinata had seen. They were all dancing, all laughing…and all very drunk by the looks of it. And this was just outside. Hinata could make out the vague outline of a building behind the large crowd of people outside…and the neon billboard over the building illuminated the street.

"Come on," Ino muttered, grabbing Hinata's arm and leading her inside.

-0-

**Thanks for reading, please review! It makes my day.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: Don't own, don't sue. Kthx.**

**Authors Notes: Err...I love you all? I'll save the actual note until THE END of the chapter. I know you're all anxious to read.**

**Chapter 10**

--

The inside of the club could be described with two simple words: utter chaos.

Hinata entered a few stepsbehind Ino, positively terrified. She surveyed the vast room filled with people. In the heady atmosphere Hinata could smell sweat, various perfumes and colognes, and booze. Lots and lots of booze. It was dark, and there were disco lights positioned on the walls, flashing random colors. In the center, a huge dance floor was already crowded with pulsating bodies. The music was deafeningly loud, and Hinata winced as they passed a rather loud speaker. It was unlike anything she'd ever seen. "Ino! Where are y-you going?" Hinata shouted, attempting to catch Ino's attention. The blonde girl seemed to be surveying the room, looking for someone. Hinata severely hoped Ino wouldn't leave her alone, she would have no idea what to do with herself. That's just what Hinata needed, to be stranded and alone in some club filled to the brim with drunks.

But Ino didn't hear her, for she continued her mad rampage through the center of the club, searching for someone. Hinata followed, banging into people left and right, getting stepped on multiple times, and trying not to get suffocated by enormous amout of gyrating bodies. She apologized each time, but gradually ceased when she realized that no one noticed nor cared. Finally, once they had reached the outskirts of the dance floor, Ino stood against the wall, arms crossed and looking annoyed.

"Where is he?" she muttered angrily.

"_Who_, Ino?"

"Sasuke! Who else would I be looking for?"_  
_

_Um, I dunno. Your **friends**, maybe?_

"M-maybe he's just not here yet." Hinata offered, pressing herself against the wall as a particularly rambunctious crowd of people passed by, shoving each other and reeking of alcohol.

Ino just groaned. "I need a drink." And with that, she strode off, leaving Hinata by herself against the wall, feeling very vulnerable and very much alone. Oh, bugger.

Feeling self-conscious, Hinata tugged on the hem of her dress, hoping to make the damn thing longer. Unfortunately, that caused the V-neck to slip even lower, exposing her chest. She cursed. Either way she was revealing more skin than she felt comfortable with. Why did she let Ino talk her into this?

_Because deep down you're itching to get on that dance floor.  
_

_…No! I'm not. No way. Yes way. _

_No, no, no and NO.  
_

_I give it ten minutes before you're out there.  
_

_Just…be quiet, please?  
_

Hinata groaned. Since when did she have a stupid voice in her head? She'd heard of people having a conscience but this was just ridiculous.

After rubbing her temples a little, Hinata decided to survey the scene. She saw people she knew scattered here and there, but was too shy to go up to them. She saw her cousin Neji, looking rather handsome clad in a black silk shirt, a color that contrasted handsomely with his white eyes. He was holding a drink in one hand and talking with a pretty, brown-haired girl in a yellow dress. It took Hinata a moment to realize that it was Tenten. Neji had a rather smug look on his face, and it caused Hinata to smile. At least now she knew Neji wasn't hiding any homosexual tendencies. Thank _God._

Next she saw Shikamaru, looking bored as usual sitting next to Chouji, who was surprise, surprise, munching on his beloved chips.

"Hey, pretty eyes, wanna dance?" a deep voice suddenly crooned, startling Hinata out of her reverie. She felt a calloused hand wrap around her waist and pull her flush against a strong, muscular frame.

Hinata jumped, her hand automatically reaching out to slap whoever it was that invaded her personal bubble. _No One_ invaded her personal bubble.

"Ow! Hinata!"

It was Kiba.

"Aah! Kiba-kun! I'm so sorry!" Hinata apologized, bowing. "You scared me so much!"

"Sorry, shit. Remind not to do that next time, who taught you how to punch like that?" Kiba complained, rubbing his smarting cheek.

Hinata giggled at Kiba's absurd pout. She really hadn't slapped him _that_ hard, had she? Aw, poor Kiba. She smiled at the look on his face, feeling slightly more relaxed now that Kiba was with her. Hinata became nervous however, when Kiba took her hand in his once more, a rather serious look appearing on his face. She gulped.

"So anyways, I really did mean what I just said. Do you, well, do you want to dan-"

"EEEE!"

Kiba was cut off when a loud, raucous blond suddenly jumped in between Hinata and he.

It was Naruto. A rather drunk and smelly Naruto.

"Hinata-chaaaaan," Naruto slurred, swaying dangerously from side to side as he stood in front of her. "You look so prettyyy today. Hehehehehee."

No, scratch that; a _very _drunk, _very _smelly Naruto.

Kiba scowled, and Hinata flushed crimson. Naruto had just called her pretty. Naruto had called her, Hyuuga Hinata, pretty. She could hardly breathe. If she could have, she would have squealed and jumped on him.

But, Hinata being Hinata, obviously did not.

Imagine the poor girl's surprise when, after blankly staring at her for a few seconds, Naruto suddenly jumped on _her_, wrapping his arms around her waist clumsily. Hinata squeaked when his sudden weight caused her to collide with the wall. Now she really couldn't breathe, _literally_. She was trapped between the wall and Naruto, whose hot breath was tickling her neck. Hinata gulped again and felt all the blood in her body rush to her cheeks. Naruto felt…well, rather_ nice_.

_He can invade my personal bubble **any** time.  
_

_…Oh my god. I did NOT just think that.  
_

"Hmnn. You smell nice, Hinata-chan." Naruto whispered, his breath now tickling her ear. He pressed his nose against her neck and inhaled. The action caused goosebumps to erupt up and down Hinata's spine. He leaned in even closer, causing Hinata to cease breathing altogether. "Hinata-channn. Can I kiss you?" he slurred.

"Naruto… I… can't…breathe…" Hinata gasped, as his hold on her waist tightened even more. She'd never, ever had a boy this close to her before, and she was surprised at her shortness of breath and beating heart. She feebly attempted to push Naruto off but felt her arms turn to mush, Hinata could have kicked herself.

_He's drunk. _She kept telling herself;_ He doesn't know what he's doing. He doesn't know what he's doing and OHMYGOD he just asked to kiss you. Naruto wants to kiss you. Shit. Shiiiiit. What to do?__  
_

_KISS HIM YOU IDIOT! KISS HIM!  
_

"Watch it, dumbass!" Kiba hissed, sounding furious. "Get away from her!"

Kiba wrenched Naruto away from Kiba, causing the drunk young man to topple over onto the floor. Naruto landed on the ground with a crash and did not move.

"Kiba, I think you killed him!" Hinata squealed, still trying to catch her breath from the encounter.

Then they heard Naruto begin to snore.

_Oh, he's passed out. He's drunk off his ass on the grubby floor of a club. There's a boy to take home to meet the family.  
_

Yet Hinata stood there, trying to get her breathing back to normal as Kiba fumed next to her. The goose bumps slowly receded. But the warm, tingling feeling that spread from her head to her toes remained. She'd never had a boy that close to her before.

_Well, at least now you know Naruto isn't completely repulsed by you…it's a start._

"Are you alright?" Kiba asked, placing his hands on her shoulders.

"Aah, I'm good Kiba-kun." Hinata said, casually stepping away from him, uncomfortable with his touch.

Kiba frowned, dropping his arm. "That Naruto. What an ass."

"No, no. He's just had too much to drink." Hinata quipped, staring at Naruto's limp form and smiling softly._  
_

_If only you actually meant what you said, Naruto.__  
_

-- --

Why did he even bother to come? Clubs were a stupid, pointless waste of time.

Sasuke stood in a faraway corner of the club, pretty much hidden from everyone within it. The second he walked in, he was attacked by Sakura and four other squealing girls, showering him with gifts and batting their eyelashes. The smell of their perfumes alone made him want to pass out. What did these girls do? _Bathe_ in the repulsive stuff? His nostrils would take at least _a week_ to get back to normal.

Sasuke sneezed. _Damn _them.

He needed a drink.

Sasuke kept his head bowed as he made his way over to the bar, hoping no one would notice him. He found that he didn't need to worry much, everyone sitting down was either a) completely wasted b) entangled with someone else or c) wasted AND entangled with someone else. The somewhat sober ones where out on the dance floor, paying no mind to anyone but themselves.

Sasuke scowled. His schoolmates were imbeciles.

As Sasuke reached the bar he turned his head just in time to see Hyuuga Hinata practically get tackled into the wall by a very drunk Naruto. Sasuke twitched when the blond wrapped his arms around Hinata and leaned into her, whispering god knows what. The blush coating the Hyuuga's cheeks confirmed it. Whatever Naruto said to her probably wasn't the most innocent thing ever.

The idea of Naruto having his hands on Hinata irritated Sasuke. He took a swig of the cup the bartender had placed on the table.

_Bad thoughts, Sasuke, she's a girl. A **girl, **for pete's sakes.They're an annoying, loud waste of time, remember?  
_

But even Sasuke couldn't help but smirk when Kiba practically threw Naruto onto the floor in an effort to get him away from Hinata. For once, the loud Inuzuka had done something right. He leaned back in his chair and stared at the blue-haired girl some more.

Sasuke finished his drink and asked for another one. The fruity, tangy mixture surprisingly tasted good. Good thing it wasn't sweet. Sasuke hated sweets. After he finished his second, he asked for another and another after that, forgetting that there was more than just fruit punch in the seemingly innocent drink.

-- --

He was watching her again.

Hinata fidgeted uncomfortably as she felt the Uchiha Sasuke's eyes trained onto her. She was squashed on a couch between Kiba and Ino. Self-consciously Hinata scratched her nose. Was there a booger hanging off her face or something? She felt like Sasuke was evaluating her, and the thought scared Hinata. She shivered, and finished the water she had been drinking all night. It had an odd taste to it, but she was too thirsty to care. Plus, she needed something to do with her hands, Sasuke was making her nervous.

"Cold?" Kiba asked, automatically putting one arm around her shoulders.

Hinata smiled warmly. Good old Kiba. "Thank you."

Hinata watched Sasuke's eyes narrow as she leaned into Kiba. _What the hell is his problem?_

The club was more crowded than ever, and Hinata found herself feeling woozy in the heady environment. Bodies were packed together, and the mixture of dance and drink was causing many to lose their inhibitions.

_But not me.  
_

"Hinata, you should have a drink," Sakura's voice interjected her thoughts.

"Me? I-I don't think so, Sakura-chan." Her, drink? Right! As if her upbringing would even let her _taste_ alcohol without being drowned in an avalanche of guilt.

"Oh c'mon. Don't be a stick in the mud," crooned Ino, whose bright blue eyes were already glazed over. "Just a sip?

"N-no I don't think I should," Hinata insisted. She attempted to stand up, but found it impossible when she realized she was still trapped under Kiba's arm. It didn't help that he was slumped onto the sofa, half asleep.

_For the love of...has EVERYONE lost their mind? How are they supposed to get back to school? Idiots, I say.  
_

With great difficulty, Hinata managed to crawl out from underneath Kiba's heavy arm, and she stood up defiantly. "No, thank you. I don't want one, and I'd prefer it if you stopped asking me. Now I have to go use the restroom, excuse me." And with that said, Hinata promptly turned on her heel and walked away, a triumphant look etched across her face.

On the couch behind her, Ino and Sakura began to snigger uncontrollably.

"Do you think we should have told her that water we gave her was spiked?" sniggered Ino, finding the situation extremely amusing.

"No!" burst Sakura, beet red and in a fit of giggles. "She'll find out. Uh…sooner or later."

At this, the two inebriated young women began to cackle like banshees, unaware of the looks they received from those around them and of the trouble their little prank would cause.

--

Why was the room spinning?

Hinata put a palm to her face in an effort to steady herself as she walked through the club. She was sweating profusely, and felt nausea coming on. There was a strange, bitter taste in her mouth that had not been there before.

In her haze, Hinata crashed into a table and knocked it over, causing her to see stars. _What's wrong with me?__  
_

"Watch it girl!" she heard an angry male voice shout.

"Bathroom," Hinata muttered, not even bothering to apologize. "Need bathroom," she attempted to steady herself without much success.

"In the back."

"Thank you."

And so, Hyuuga Hinata stumbled on, completely unaware of the fact that the hem dress was slowly hitching up higher and higher, generating more and more leering looks from those she stumbled past. Hinata just needed fresh air, that was all. Just some fresh air from the stifling, smelly club.

Exits were normally by the bathrooms in places like this, right? Right? Hinata desperately hoped so.

_In the back. In the back. Get to the back… somehow.  
_

Hinata's muddled brains could only string together those thoughts as she pushed and shoved bodies out of her way in an effort to get to an exit.

Finally, Hinata reached a door. She burst through it and thankfully, she saw that it was indeed an exit. Hinata stumbled out of the club, head spinning, stomach heaving and gasping for a breath of clean, non-perfumed air. Hinata collapsed onto the floor, trying to figure out what the hell put her in such a state.

_You haven't had anything here except…water. The water. It must have been Sakura and Ino.  
_

_Those little….oh, they will **pay.**_

"Hey, you lost?"

Hinata's head snapped up at the sound of a deep, husky voice. She found herself face to face with a man she'd never seen in her life. A leer twisted his already ugly features.

Hinata stood up as best she could, only to find her surroundings spin around some more. She groaned and buried her face in her hands.

"Do you need help?" he asked, in a mock-concerned voice. Hinata heard snickers and looked around fearfully. More men were appearing from the shadows. Hinata was able to count at least three more, all wearing similar expressions of glee. The man who was speaking stepped closer, a lot closer, she could smell the alcohol that emanated from him in waves. He was most definitely drunk.

"We could help you if you want," he whispered. Hinata heard more snickers and tried not to vomit.

She had an inkling of what came next. Fear tore at her chest, and her breathing became shallow and irregular and she tried to keep her cool. How did she ever land herself in this position?

The man stepped even closer, and when he reached out to grab Hinata only one thought crossed her mind:

_Run.  
_

She turned on her heel and sprinted away as fast as she could, she couldn't find the door she had come out of and one frantic glance backwards told her the men were chasing after her. And so Hinata ran as fast as she could, but even she could not contain the curse that sprung from her lips as she stripped on a stray beer bottle and landed hard on the floor, scraping her knees and elbows. Hinata felt her ankle twist as she landed on it, and heard the sickening rip of material as the dress snagged on the floor. She was caught.

_Oh god. Oh god oh god. What do I do?  
_

The men caught up to her, scowling.

"I don't like chasing little whores such as yourself," he spat, an evil glint in his eyes. He reached down, grabbed Hinata harshly by her forearm and yanked her up, backing her up against a nearby wall. The action brought her back into her senses and she began to scream for help.

The man slapped her. The action caused Hinata's head to collide with the wall and she sagged against it, trying to clear her brain of it's sudden ogginess.

"Shut up," he hissed dangerously, running his hand down her exposed leg. Hinata continued to scream as she struggled, she fought against his vice-like grip that held her in place as best she could, only to stop when he reached into his pocket and drew a small switchblade.

"I will only say this one more time. Shut up."

So Hinata stood there, paralyzed and close to hyperventilating from fear. She was trembling, and gave in to the hot tears that spilled from her eyes.

" P-please, don't hurt m-me," she pleaded pitifully, hating herself, hating them. Why didn't she have the courage to fight back?

The man grinned evilly. "Now why would I want to do something like that?" He leaned in and roughly began to kiss her neck. It was disgusting. Hinata attempted to push away but ceased when she felt the sharp edge of the blade press into her ribs. A warning.

As the man tugged her dress higher and higher, she was struck with a sudden idea, Hinata managed to position her knee into the right place and without a second thought, drove it as hard as she could into his groin.

The man grunted in pain, loosing his hold on her for a few seconds. It was all Hinata needed. She took off as fast as she could, but found that she could not fully support her weight on her injured foot.

Hinata screamed in surprise when a sudden calloused hand closed around her wrist as she ran. One of the other men tackled her to the floor and nearly suffocated Hinata as his entire weight fell on her. Hinata screamed and screamed for help, clawing at the man's face with her nails, knowing the chances of someone coming were less than zero. She'd run into the nearby forest in crazed run from before, and now she regretted it. Hinata was trapped in the middle of who knew where, and no one was around to help. But still, she screamed and clawed, bit, punched, tore at whatever part of the man's body she could find.

Suddenly, he grabbed both her tiny wrists in one of his hands, and used the other to slap her as hard as he could. The back of her head collided with the pavement and she saw stars erupt in front of her eyes. Hinata's eyes fluttered closed, there was a weird tingling feeling spreading down her neck, and her head was nothing more than a murky haze.

_I'm not going to get out of this. I'm going to die here.  
_

Hinata stopped struggling, that last blow to the head left her completely disoriented. Before her eyes closed for the final time, she thought she heard sudden yells of surprise…a great weight lifted off of her…the unmistakable sounds of fighting…pitch black eyes staring down at her white ones…and then finally, Hinata succumbed to the darkness.

-- --

The first thing Hinata felt was a breeze.

_Wow, that was one twisted nightmare. I wonder if it's morning already.  
_

Then, as she turned over, she found leaves and twigs where her comfortable pillow should be.

Hinata opened her eyes and sat up, and saw that someone had laid a jacket over her. Hinata looked around, suddenly terrified.

_This is definitely NOT my room…oh hell.  
_

She was lying on the floor, under a large tree, still in the woods. Hinata attempted to stand up, but sat back down again when a tidal wave of pain crashed down upon her. Every part of her ached; her back, her wrists, her ankle, her face, but mostly her head. It was pounding and Hinata closed her eyes and rubbed her temples, attempting to string two thoughts together. Her eyes quadrupled in size when she felt blood trickling down one side of her face. She lay back down, and tried to fight the exhaustion that took over her body. She should somehow try and get back to school she knew. But her eyelids felt so heavy, and the jacket was so warm…

The jacket. Who's was it?

With much difficulty, the young woman sat up again and looked around, but the throbbing in her head forced her to lie back down again. She saw the outline of someone emerging from the trees, it was very dark, so Hinata couldn't make out a face. She could only see that it was a male figure, and knew that it was he who had saved her earlier .

Her last thought before she lost consciousness was that she'd seen him before, and that he smelled vaguely of peppermint. As the stranger pressed a cool, calming hand to her face, Hinata-feeling extremely secure for some reason-finally allowed herself to slip into a dreamless stupor.

--

**Alright, so I know most of you hate me for taking so long to update. I'm sorry if this chapter is terrible, but I was fighting a serious case of writers block. If it didn't meet your expectations, I'm very sorry, and I promise they will get better. And editing this took me forever because I had to copy and paste everything into Notepad, since it wasn't letting me upload from Word and Notepad does NOT auto format. Since I had to edit all the spacing, apostrophes, comma's, etc. myself, I ask that you please excuse any petty typos you might find. I'm only human, after all. But FINALLY. It's up. HALLELUJAH. -dances-**

**Thank you for your patience, and thank you for reading. ****I'm a review whore, so you have no idea how much your comments make my day. ****So please, review!  
**

**xo.  
**

**  
**


	11. Chapter 11

Hello darlings. Thanks for your patience. I moved across the country, and things at home are a bit rough right now so it's taken me a while to get back into the swing of things. I know that's no excuse, but I'll update more regularly from now on. I promise.

**Chapter 11**

-0-

The first things Hinata heard were voices. Soft, lulling voices. Next came the sterile smell of the hospital wing. She groaned, clutching her head, and jumped in surprise when a cool hand was placed on her cheek. Hinata opened her eyes and saw with some surprise two people there, gazing at her. There were four screens set up around her bed, to enclose her from the rest of the hospital wing.

"H-hello." was all she could muster. Her body felt like lead.

"Hinata…how are you feeling?" Sakura asked, stroking her hair softly.

"Better," she lied.

"We were so worried about you, when you never came back from the bathroom," Ino said, her blue eyes misty as she approached the bed slowly.

Hinata looked at them with narrowed eyes. "You put alcohol in my drink."

Ino and Sakura shared a glance. "Hinata we_ know_ what we did. And it was wrong and you could have died. I'm so sorry, I really am," Sakura said earnestly.

Hinata did not answer them, but merely looked away. She was still angry at them.

"Hey, she's awake? Naruto, Hinata's awake!"

Kiba ran into the hospital wing, ready to jump on Hinata, but Sakura held him back. "No rough stuff, Kiba. She has a concussion and a sprained ankle, not to mention bruises everywhere."

Hinata gasped. "I-I do?"

Ino nodded sadly. "I'm so sorry Hinata, I feel so guilty. Just…can you forgive me?"

Hinata looked at Ino's pleading eyes and thought of Sakura's own sincere apology.

"I suppose," she mumbled.

At that moment, Naruto walked in. Even in her state, Hinata could feel her heart rate increase.

"How are you?" he asked as he approached her bed, concern in his eyes.

She took a deep breath before answering. "I've been better."

"So…so what happened?" he asked, not smiling. Hinata could only stare. It was the first time she'd seen him frown.

"I…I honestly d-don't really remember. I ended up outside somehow, a-and then there were these men. And they, they-" she could not speak anymore as the words lodged themselves in her throat.

She remembered the hits they threw at her, the fear, the absolute disgust at having the man's slimy hands running all over her body. Hinata closed her eyes and took a deep breath. It was all she could do to not dissolve into a sobbing, choking mess.

"Hinata, they didn't…" Kiba trailed off.

She opened her eyes again, and felt a rush sudden of affection towards her friends as she saw all of their horrorstricken faces at what she'd implied. "N-no, they didn't. I got away, but then they caught up to me. And then I think…I-I'm not sure but I think s-someone helped me."

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked, sitting down.

At that moment, a nurse walked in. "Only two people to a patient," she scolded, narrowing her eyes at the group of people surrounding Hinata.

Ino grabbed Sakura's hand, "Sakura if don't leave now we'll be late to class."

Sakura nodded. "Hinata we'll be right back after dinner, alright? I hope you feel better."

"Get well soon," Ino said gently, planting a kiss on Hinata's forehead.

"As much as I don't want to, I should probably go too, I don't want another detention," Kiba muttered as Ino and Sakura walked out, torn between going to class and wanting to stay.

"Y-you need t-to go, Kiba. Don't skip class again," Hinata told him.

He grinned. "Alright fine, I'll also be back after dinner to see how you're doing." Hinata gave him a small wave. "You coming, Naruto?" he asked.

"No I'll stay, I have this period free," Naruto responded. Kiba nodded, gave Hinata a small wink, then followed Sakura and Ino.

Hinata's eyes widened as Naruto made himself comfortable on the plastic chair that was placed next to her bed. She swallowed.

"Hinata, what did you mean when you said someone helped you?" he asked, leaning forward and placing his elbows on his knees. His blue eyes held no hint of laughter, they were deadly serious.

"U-um. W-well," Hinata began, attempting to sate her nerves. "S-someone f-fought them off, I think. She looked at the ceiling, trying to remember. "The men I mean. T-they were…overpowering me. I-I hit my head on the pavement, and then I sort of lost my bearings. B-but I c-could hear someone... fighting them, I-I guess."

"And then what?" he asked.

Hinata wondered why he was so curious. "I-I p-passed out. I woke up in the middle o-of the night with a j-jacket over me. And I k-know it was his."

"Who's?" he said.

"T-the p-person who saved me."

Naruto leaned back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest. It seemed he was trying to figure something out. "Do you remember anything else?"

She shook her head. "I fell asleep again. T-then I just woke up in here."

"So you don't know who this person was, then?"

Hinata shook her head again. "Naruto, I was w-wondering. How e-exactly _did_ I end up in here?"

Naruto grinned slightly. "I was hoping _you_ could tell me that. No one saw you again until this morning, when the nurse found you asleep with all of your injuries near dawn."

Hinata gasped. "S-so…no one saw him? Whoever he was?"

"Nope."

Hinata sat up, slowly. She was getting sick of laying down. Naruto rushed to help her; he gently held her up with one hand as he re-arranged her pillows with the other. Had she not been so sore, she would have exploded with glee.

"Thank you," she muttered as Naruto sat back down. "How did all of you get back? I-if I recall, none of you were exactly…sober."

Naruto grinned. "We all trickled back in during the night and slept late into the morning. Then Kiba snuck into the kitchens and made this drink that he gave to everyone. It was disgusting, but we were fine by lunch, when the teachers came back."

"W-wait, wasn't that today?"

Naruto shook his head and laughed. "Hinata it's Tuesday morning. You've been asleep since Sunday."

"...Oh. Wow."

Naruto snickered, and she just smiled at him. Hinata then heard the nurse's voice somewhere outside, and then recognized the smooth male voice that answered her.

"Oh yeah…Sasuke's been in here since yesterday too," Naruto explained, when he saw Hinata's questioning look. "He collapsed on his way to gym. Turns out that somehow, he had two broken ribs and minor concussion."

"W-what? How?" she asked, astounded that the invincible Uchiha could get such injuries.

"No one knows," Naruto answered, shrugging. "And obviously the bastard's not telling either. He probably just tripped over something and he's too embarrassed to admit it," he muttered, snickering.

Hinata jumped as the flap to the screen opened and Sasuke himself poked his head inside. She frowned as she saw a cut above Sasuke's left eye, an ugly purple bruise on his right cheek and other small injuries scattered around his face. It was not a very pretty sight.

"I heard that, you dumbass." Sasuke hissed, glaring at Naruto.

Naruto grinned at him, "Well you look absolutely awful this morning, Princess. I'm sure if you ask Ino or Sakura they'll be happy to let you borrow some make-up."

Sasuke just bared his teeth at the grinning blonde and made to leave. But then abruptly, he turned around and looked at Hinata, who as always, squirmed under his intense gaze.

"How's your head?" he asked her, a small frown between his eyes.

"F-fine," she answered him, taken aback. "How's your f-face?"

He stared at her for a few seconds before answering. "Fine."

A pause.

"G-good," she answered meekly.

"I want to work on that project this weekend. I'll be in the library most of Saturday. Come if you want," he stated.

Then he turned and walked out. .

Hinata stared at him in surprise.

_If you want._

For once, it was not an order, it was not a command, it wasn't even a request. _If you want._ He was giving her a choice. Hinata could decide if she would help him or not for herself.

So intent was she on staring at the spot Sasuke had just vacated that she did not notice Naruto's eyes narrow as he looked on their exchange with increasing suspicion, nor did she see his look of surprise as he put two and two together.

No, Hinata was too busy digesting the fact that she'd just had a decent, non-hostile conversation with Sasuke to notice anything else.

-0-

I know it's short. I know. I decided to split this chapter into two pieces so it wouldn't become one giant, monster update. I'll post the next part in a few days.

So for now, read, review, rant, go crazy. I like reviews that are longer than a few words, and I just want to hear your feedback. What you enjoyed, what part made you want to rip your hair out, what part made you want to squeal (if any). Anything and everything coming from you, my lovely readers, I adore.

Thanks for reading, please review!


	12. Chapter 12

Thank you for your reviews

Thank you for your reviews. They were lovely.

A/N: Ok so in the previous chapter, I said that Hinata's ankle was broken. But it was after I updated that I realized broken ankles take a _long_ time to heal. So for the sake of the story, I went back and fixed that little mistake. Now her ankle is merely sprained. Woot woot.

**Chapter 12**

-0-

_I'll just stay, do my share of work, and then leave as fast as possible. _

Hinata ambled through the sunny courtyard, humming merrily to herself. It was the Saturday after waking up in the hospital, and had been attending class since Tuesday afternoon. Although she still had many small bruises littering her body, her shock of the experience had finally receded. However, she would need crutches for about one more week due to her sprained ankle.

Hinata was on her way to spend most of the afternoon closed up in a stuffy, dusty library with Sasuke, who probably said a grand total of five words per day. She was mentally preparing herself for the awkwardness the afternoon would bring.

_It will be fine. Everything will work out perfectly. I won't make a fool of myself in front of him. Yes?_

_Yes._

As she entered the building, Hinata was surprised at the warmth that greeted her compared to chilliness of outside. She shivered at the sudden change in temperature, adjusted her crutches, and bravely hobbled in.

One glance around the library told her it was completely devoid of people, save for one head of spiky, jet- black hair sitting at the farthest table from the entrance. Hinata supposed no one would be cooped up inside a dark building, doing homework (of all things) on such a beautiful day.

Taking a deep breath, Hinata made her way towards Sasuke, trying to make as little noise as possible in the quiet atmosphere. Upon closer inspection, she noted how uncomfortable he seemed hunched over a large, old textbook; his brow furrowed in confusion, and he lightly bit his bottom lip as his head rested on one of his palms.

Hinata caught by surprise. He looked sort of…normal.

When she was a few feet away, she stopped. Now what?

_Say hello?_

_Tap him on the shoulder?_

…_Run away?_

She decided to clear her throat, albeit awkwardly. Hinata bit her lip to hide the giggle that threatened to escape her as Sasuke jumped, startled out of his reverie. He snapped his head around to face her, black eyes wide with surprise and only after realizing it was Hinata, he relaxed.

_He's kind of paranoid. _

She stood there uncomfortably, waiting for him to say something. When he did not utter a single word, she decided to take matters into her own hands. Resting her crutches on the end of the table, she plopped herself down on the seat next to his, took out her notes, pencils and textbooks, and then turned around to face him.

"Hello."

Sasuke seemed startled once more by her unexpected forwardness, but he gave her a small nod all the same, quickly returning his eyes to his book. Hinata counted to five, attempting to control her growing irritation. Was he mute or something?

"H-have you completed the assigned outline questions?" she asked, trying again.

"Hn," was all he said, giving her another small nod.

_Patience, Hinata. Patience. _

"And have you researched the p-politics of the country? I know I w-was supposed to focus on E-economy," she continued, looking through her papers to find the ones she needed.

"Hn," he repeated after a few seconds, not taking his eyes from his book.

Hinata grit her teeth. Why was he being so difficult? A few weeks ago he would have taken full advantage of the opportunity to torment her, and now he wouldn't even look her in the eye. She gave up on attempting making conversation.

So they sat there for a few minutes. A few minutes of buzzing, awkward, intolerable silence during which Sasuke did nothing more than read yet another page in that stupid textbook of his. Finally, she couldn't take it anymore.

"Y-you know," Hinata began, hiding her hands-which had turned into fists-in her pocket. "I think I l-liked you better when you were being…mean."

His eyes stopped traveling across the page, finally turning around to face her as he closed his book. He reclined in his chair, folding his arms across his chest.

To Hinata's great annoyance, he smirked. "Are you sure about that?" he asked, his eyes glinting with amusement.

Hinata could have smacked her forehead against the table.

_He's toying with me. _

She ruffled through the papers she had laid out on the table, refusing to show that he was having any sort of impact on her when all she really wanted to do was take his face and smash it against any solid surface. His textbook would do the trick nicely.

_Control, you. _

"Well, y-you talked then, at least," she muttered, giving up on her aimless shuffling and resting her hands on her lap.

"But I'm talking now," he said. "Aren't I?"

"Y-you w-weren't a moment ago," she responded through gritted teeth. He could be so exasperating sometimes.

Sasuke shrugged. "I didn't feel like it. You weren't saying anything particularly interesting."

_Control. Control. CONTROL. _

"It's not like y-you're any b-better," Hinata muttered.

Immediately after saying it, she hoped he hadn't heard. Why had she said that? The last thing she wanted was Sasuke losing his temper and beating her to death. No one would ever find her if she were killed in this dark, empty library.

"I'll never recover from such a devastating insult," Sasuke muttered sarcastically, returning to his book.

"H-here's hoping y-you don't," she said, opening her textbook as well.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "You're really annoying sometimes."

Hinata flushed red with anger. She was _not_ about to put up with him for an entire afternoon. She could her work by herself. She would work by herself. Hinata had been foolish to think she could get along with him for at least a few minutes. He was completely, utterly _impossible._

"S-so are you," Hinata snapped. She packed all of her books into her bag, grabbed her crutches from the end of the table, and left the library without another word.

-0-

"Hey have you seen Hinata around?"

The cafeteria was crowded and noisy. Naruto, Kiba and Sakura pushed their way through the throngs of people, looking for an empty table so they could eat their lunch. Hinata hadn't been seen for a few hours, and Kiba was beginning to worry.

After a few minutes, the two boys managed to grab one by a wide window, which gave them a good view of most of the school grounds.

"I haven't seen her since breakfast," Naruto answered Kiba as they sat down. In response, Kiba frowned.

"I'm wondering where she's got to."

Kiba and Naruto wasted no time before hungrily digging into their enormous lunches, not coming up for breath until they were at least halfway done. By that time, some other people had joined their table, who looked on their meal with scrunched noses at their lack of manners; mainly Sakura and Ino.

"You'd think they grew up with apes," Ino muttered, looking on as Kiba stuffed half of his sandwich into his mouth.

Sakura just shuddered and looked away before becoming nauseous. As she looked out of the window, she was surprised to see Hinata, of all people, quickly leaving the library. Sakura wondered what business Hinata had at such a random place and time, then she noticed that Hinata was practically running out of the library as fast as her crutches would let her.

Sakura was even more surprised to see Sasuke leaving the library in a hurry as well. Sakura's eyes widened in both confusion and surprise as she saw Sasuke begin to run after the blue-haired girl.

-0-

What a complete waste of time that had been, she was glad to be out of that claustrophobic library.

With a pang, Hinata realized she'd forgotten her jacket in her hurry to leave the library before she tore Sasuke's eyes out with her fingernails.

Hinata could have cursed out loud. It was cold._ Reall__y _cold.

Should she go back and face Sasuke again? Or should she just man up and face the cold until she was able to go back to the library at some point? But what if someone took it? It was her only winter jacket.

_Oh, damn it all. _

Hinata stopped in her tracks, and pivoted on her good ankle with every intention of marching back into the library with whatever dignity she had left to collect her jacket. Turning around, Hinata gasped out loud as she found herself face-to-face with Sasuke. He was holding her jacket in one hand and a sheet of paper in the other, looking amused.

"You forgot these," he said. He threw the coat at her, causing it to land on her head due to her inability to use her arms as she was reclining on her crutches.

"Thank you," she said, her voice muffled under the heavy jacket. She must look beyond ridiculous with the jacket haphazardly thrown on her face. Sasuke made no move to help her put it on.

_Just die, bastard. Die. _

With some difficulty, she managed to disentangle herself and put the jacket on, while he just stood there, watching.

"And this," he said, handing over the sheet of paper as soon as her jacket was on.

Hinata took it, and after giving it a brief once over said, "I didn't write these questions."

"Of course you didn't," Sasuke said, his tone of voice saying it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I did. They need to be completed before we can start writing the paper. That means before Monday."

Hinata looked at the paper again; it had _at least_ forty questions that needed to be completed. She resisted the urge to groan.

"It's a lot," she said. "I-I'll n-never get t-this done in time."

"Then _I'll _never pass Kakashi's class. You realize you make a terrible partner." he said bluntly.

If the project weren't so important, Hinata would have balled the sheet of paper up and flung it at his face. She tried to calm herself down once more; all of this repressed anger was definitely not good for her general health.

"You're r-really…" she began, looking for a word evil enough to describe him. She failed.

"I'm what?" he asked, taking a step closer to her, the amusement in his eyes increasing.

_Fuck. You._

"Nothing," she said finally, backing away. It was no use arguing with him. "S-see you Monday."

"I thought so," he muttered, narrowing his eyes as she backed away.

Hinata had to get away from him. She needed to take deep breaths and think happy thoughts and definitely _not _kill the scum standing in front of her.

Hinata turned around to leave, but as she took a few steps in the opposite direction, she decided to indulge her angry side just a tiny bit. She would hate herself later if she didn't. As smoothly as she could, Hinata turned around.

"S-Sasuke…" she started, persuading herself to say the words she'd been longing to say to him for months.

"What?" he asked harshly, folding his arms across his chest.

"I, well… I think I hate you."

There was a pause in which both of them just stared at each other. Hinata waited patiently for Sasuke's reaction. She had to admit, she was curious.

But to her immense surprise, Sasuke threw back his head and laughed.

It was a light, hiccupy laugh that left her reeling with shock. Hinata had never seen Sasuke do anything other than smirk, glare or snarl. On occasion there was the rare ghost of a smile, almost always at the expense of someone else. But not only was he actually laughing, but he was laughing at the fact that she'd just said she hated him. Not only that, but his laugh really sounded…_genuine._

_Is he on drugs?_

Hinata stared at the strange boy standing in front her blankly, at a loss for words. She'd been prepared for anything but _this_. How was she supposed to respond?

But as much a she hated to admit it, a part of her- a very small, very reluctant part-admitted that Sasuke _did _look kind of…endearing as he laughed. It was the first time she hadn't seen him blatantly despising the entire human race. His entire face transformed, he looked like a normal person without a care in the world. She couldn't do anything but stare.

After a moment Sasuke stopped, his cheeks the lightest shade of pink. He let his eyes rest on hers, and for once Hinata did not look down.

"What was that?" she asked bluntly.

His face settled itself back into a small smirk. "I _am _human you know."

Hinata scoffed. "That c-could be argued."

Now it was Sasuke's turn to stare. "Since when are _you_ so forward?"

Hinata thought about it.

Should she lie? Or be honest?

His heart was made of stone; she didn't think there was a chance of hurting his feelings. Hinata decided to be honest. Brutally honest.

"S-since now, to tell you the truth. I think it's because j-just realized I hate you."

Sasuke cocked his head to the side, sizing her up; Hinata stood her ground. He stepped closer to her, the distance between them not more than half a foot; Hinata could feel his hot breath on her face.

All of a sudden, Sasuke reached out with both hands and grabbed Hinata's shoulders, giving her the roughest kiss on the forehead she had ever received. She gasped and her eyes went wide with surprise as he slowly leaned into her ear.

"Finally," he whispered.

-o-

Yay for bizarre relationships.

Thank you for reading. Please review. (Long rambles are particularly delicious to read).


	13. Chapter 13

I return. I hope you enjoy this little something I cooked up for you.

**Chapter 13**

-o-

_Either that cheese and spinach sandwich I had earlier was rancid and I'm hallucinating, or Sasuke just kissed some part of Hinata's face. _

Sakura could not help but stare, open-mouthed, eyes bulging with surprise at the event that had just taken place before her eyes. Sasuke, _her _Sasuke, had just planted a big, wet one right on Hinata's forehead. It was her forehead, right?

What. The. Fuck.

Sakura's hands clenched into angry fists; she slammed her drink harder into the table than was necessary, creating a loud noise. Unfortunately, Ino noticed.

"What's wrong with you?" Ino asked, frowning at Sakura's sudden change in demeanor. By reflex, Sakura's angry eyes darted again to the lawn, where the inconspicuous Sasuke-Hinata showdown was still going down. Ino caught the direction Sakura's eyes traveled, and shifted her posture to look at the lawn as well, a curious expression appearing on her face.

"What are Hinata and Sasuke doing out on the lawn?" she asked, more loudly than was necessary. Sakura could have smacked her forehead against the table at Ino's lack of tact.

_Well, there goes inconspicuous. _

"Hinata and Sasuke? What?" Kiba asked instantly, also joining Ino by the window. This also drew the attention of Naruto, who had been eating next to Kiba, and wondered the same thing in an ever louder voice. When others at the table had also abandoned their plates to go see what all the commotion was, Sakura realized she had made a very big mistake.

But still, even she couldn't restrain herself from bounding over to the window when sudden cries of "Oh my god!" and "Oh, SHIT" rang from the crowd assembled by the window. Sakura scrambled over to the crowd and let her jaw drop at what she saw.

A certain blue-haired, white eyed_ somebody_ was going to have a lot questions (and consequently a beating, a shove down the stairs and a severe head-shaving) to answer to after dinner.

-o-

Hinata gaped, open-mouthed at Uchiha Sasuke, who was standing but a foot away from her, the smuggest look plastered across his annoyingly pretty face.

"You-You," she stammered, backing away from him as fast as she could on crutches. "You-"

"What?" he taunted, folding his arms across his chest. "Spit it out."

Hinata tried to settle her breathing, but she was dizzy, her head and thoughts were spinning out of control. She tried to put into words the rage and confusion that had sent her careening from the present, right-side-up reality into this alternate universe where Sasuke had not only just kissed her forehead, but also _whispered_ things into her ear.

"You," Hinata said, looking anywhere but him. "Y-you are so confusing…and frustrating. I r-really can't stand you."

"That much is obvious," he retorted, rolling his eyes. After a small pause he added, "Anything else you would like to say? Hopefully this time it's something _remotely_ intelligent."

Hinata boiled over with rage. That was _enough_. This smug bastard thought he could irritate, confuse, berate, frustrate and just completely_ insult_ her to the point where she was about to rip her own hair off and drown herself in the nearest toilet_ just_ so she wouldn't have to see his idiot face again, and he was going to get away with it?

_Not anymore you're not._

This skinny, ass-pale Uchiha had obviously _never_ come face to face with a raging (and according to the calendar, pre-menstrual) Hyuuga woman.

Throwing her crutches on the floor angrily, Hinata hobbled forward a few paces until she was about two feet away from Sasuke. She stood resolutely in front of him, her lavender eyes gleaming with long-suppressed fury. Hinata noticed, with an even greater increase of rage, that he was still _smirking. _She took a deep breath, formed her hand into a fist, and before she talked herself out of it, smashed it into Uchiha Sasuke's pretty face.

Hinata could have laughed as he stumbled backwards, the force of her blow sending him straight to the floor. She smiled; his lower lip was bleeding. Hinata took out a small napkin from the pocket of her jacket and placed it on the floor next to him, where his eyes where still wide with shock.

"Y-you should get some ice on that," she said softly. Then without another word, Hinata turned on her heel, picked up her crutches, and walked away in a glorious image of blazing triumph.

-o-

"Our little Hinata really did punch Sasuke, didn't she?" asked Ino as she lounged on Hinata's bed. " I didn't imagine it?"

"Oh yes, she did," Sakura said, drumming her fingers on the desk impatiently. "And we're going to find out why."

It was later that evening, and Hinata had not been seen since that afternoon. Kiba and Naruto had roared with laughter for hours after they saw what had happened, and had cornered Sasuke as he walked into the school with his bruised lip. One glare, two snarls and several insults later, the two rowdy boys were nowhere closer to finding out what had happened from Sasuke than Ino and Sakura were to going out with him. About universe and three potatoes away.

After the episode on the lawn, the crowd at the window had disbanded, most wondering what provoked Hyuuga Hinata to hit Sasuke, but more importantly, just _why_ Sasuke had let a girl hit him like that. It was common knowledge that he would decimate _anyone_ who came a few inches too close, so why had he not retaliated? Or even made any move to stop it?

_Because he's a gentleman and doesn't hit girls,_ one part of Sakura said.

_That's why he didn't think twice about nearly breaking your arm last year, right? _her other, larger half said.

Sakura wilted a little, remembering the painful memory. Even though Sasuke slammed her into the nearest wall with enough force to knock over a rhino, she'd at least walked away with Sasuke's first kiss (from a girl). Sakura let out a sad little sigh, remembering how hopeful that day had seemed, up until she'd kissed him and he rejected her, brutally. The upside of it was that Sasuke's lips were very soft, and he smelled good, like peppermint and something that reminded her vaguely of candy. It was a shame it only lasted for a few seconds.

But today, today _he'd_ been the one to kiss Hinata. Not the other way around. Of course, a kiss on the forehead was hardly romantic, but coming from Sasuke it was like a marriage proposal complete with a romantic honeymoon on a Caribbean resort. The image of Sasuke grabbing Hinata and lowering his mouth to her flashed through Sakura's mind. Maybe she was reading into it too much.

But even so, Sakura's stomach clenched, and she felt an angry, resentful feeling she'd really never felt before seep into her. She took a deep breath, and attempted to get rid of it. When it finally hit her, she realized that if her suspicions were right, she was in for a long, depressing year.

_Holy shit. I think I might be jealous of Hinata. _

-o-

Hyuuga Neji was a very frightening person when he wanted to be.

"C-cousin, h-hello," Hinata stuttered, gasping in surprise as Neji wordlessly grabbed her arm and pushed her into the nearest empty room. "How are you?"

Neji stared at her, his face revealing nothing of what he was thinking.

"What were you doing with Sasuke earlier today?" he asked bluntly, folding his arms across his chest.

Hinata blushed, had he seen them? Had he seen the argument?

"W-we were working on a p-project," she answered, keeping her eyes resolutely on the floor. " I-in the library, that's all."

"What kind of project involves you striking him?" he asked. Hinata gasped and lifted her eyes to look at him.

"You saw?" she asked, wringing her hands together.

Neji gave her a small smile. " I did."

Hinata hid her face behind her bangs, her blood rushing to her face in humiliation. Well, it could be worse.

"And so did everyone else."

It took all of her energy to not faint on the spot.

-o-

"There she comes!"

Sakura spun around in her chair in time to see Hyuuga Hinata run into the room and shut the door, her face bright red, her eyes big and scared. She looked as if she'd met with death herself.

_Or just had another encounter with Sasuke. _

Sakura was definitely finding out.

"Where have you been?" Ino demanded, getting up from the bed and stomping over to where Hinata was standing, paralyzed.

"Um…a-around," the shorter girl responded, looking at the floor. " W-why are you two here?"

"Because we want to know exactly what the hell is going on between you and Sasuke," Sakura said harshly, before Ino could say anything.

Hinata grimaced. "You saw too?"

"Hinata, half of the cafeteria did," Ino supplied dramatically, sinking back into the bed.

Hinata looked up, her eyes wet. "I-it's not what it looks like. I…We…l-look, I really dislike him. A-and I'm sure he f-feels the same. That kiss was more of a-an insult than anything else-"

"Kiss?" Ino interjected, sitting up. "What kiss? I didn't see a kiss," she said, staring at Hinata, a mixture of envy and curiosity in her eyes. "Sasuke kissed you?"

"On the forehead, I think," Sakura said slowly, not removing her eyes from the wall. "I couldn't really tell." _It had better been the forehead. _

Sakura was angry. Very angry.

"What did you say? What did he say? And why on earth would you hit him after he _kissed you?_" Ino nearly cried, her blue eyes large with surprise. " Sasuke _kissed_ you!"

"I a-already told you," Hinata said, sounding agitated. "It was not what it looked like. I felt more i-insulted than anything else."

"Is that why you hit him then?" Ino asked incredulously.

Hinata bit her lip. " Partly, b-but I'd r-rather keep that to myself, if you don't mind." And without another word, she proceeded to gather the various toiletries and things she would need for bed. Hinata was exhausted. She just wanted to sleep and deal with people in the morning, preferably never. She couldn't figure out why it was such a big deal. So she'd punched him. So what? It's not like she wasn't completely incapable of losing her temper. She had feelings, after all.

" You're really not going to tell us anything, are you?" Sakura asked as Hinata gathered her toiletries and pajamas in her hands.

Hinata stopped as she reached the bathroom. " No, I-I'm not. So p-please do not ask me again."

Ino gaped at Sakura as Hinata entered the bathroom without another word. Sakura narrowed her eyes. She was finding out what was going on between the love of her life and Hinata, one way or the other.

-o-

Monday arrived faster than Hinata would have liked. After spending all of Sunday hiding out in the empty library, she was not looking forward to the long, hard day was in front her.

She was sure the news of her and Sasuke's _conflict _had spread, and that she would be bombarded with questions from more than one person. Hinata groaned as she walked to her first class. Already she was receiving strange looks from people; yet she still did not understand why it was such a big deal for them, especially the girls.

Hinata entered the classroom as quietly as she could and took her preferred seat in the back. Thankfully, no one noticed her entrance. And if somebody did, they did not say anything about it.

When Sasuke entered however, the entire classroom went quiet. Hinata sunk down as far as she could in her chair. She was sure there would be some awful Sasuke-revenge coming her way soon, but she had yet to mentally prepare herself for it.

Sasuke ignored the stares he received as he searched for an empty chair. There was an empty one next to Hinata, and another one right in the middle of the first row; one that was hardly ever occupied because everyone knew the teacher was a raging sadist who loved to frazzle and torture the student sitting closest to him to the point of insanity. That, combined with the fact that he spat compulsively made it the most hated seat in the entire classroom.

Sasuke started to walk towards the back, where Hinata was sitting. Her heart began to race.

_Why do I get the feeling I won't make it out of here alive?_

She kept her eyes resolutely to the front of the classroom, ignoring the stares from the peers and the fact that with each second that passed, Sasuke got closer to her- and coincidentally so did her death. Hinata was so frightened, she couldn't even breathe.

_Why did I have to hit him? _

By now, one could hear a pin drop in the room. Everyone was either dreading or looking forward to another Hyuuga/Uchiha argument. The tension between them was palpable.

When Sasuke was a few inches away from her, he stopped. Hinata was turning blue from the lack of oxygen. She stared straight ahead, praying that whatever he had in store for her wouldn't hurt _too_ much.

But instead of drawing of drawing a dagger and impaling it into Hinata, Sasuke shot her the foulest, evilest, most furious glare she'd ever seen. It was a glare that made her blood run cold and her heart completely stop beating. That look alone nearly made her curl up into a fetal position and whimper with fear. Because only two other people had ever been on receiving end of The Glare, and one of them (Itachi) had disappeared, never to be seen again. The other, (Naruto) had mysteriously been sent to the emergency room in need of an immediate blood transfusion and a cast for his shattered knee only days after Sasuke had sent it his way. The Glare was most definitely a force not be reckoned with. It also meant that impending doom was near. She gulped.

After a few seconds, Sasuke then continued on his way, he did not take the seat next to Hinata. No, he walked around the room and settled down in the dreaded front-row seat. Hinata knew what this meant. He'd rather be spitten on by a middle-aged man for a quarter of an hour than share any breathing room with her. He truly hated her, then. It's strange, what public humiliation can do for a person.

_And now, he's going to kill me or make me disappear. Probably both. _

At that moment, getting down on her knees and begging for his forgiveness didn't seem so bad for the terrified Hyuuga girl.

Either way she went about it; it was going to be an awful, excruciating experience.

* * *

Some of you have expressed concern that the story is a little all over the place, and I would just like to say that, well, it's kind of the point. If by now you haven't realized this, this story is mainly a bit of a farce with some satirical undertones. I love the many clichés that exist out there as much as the next person, and if I said that I was not shamelessly exploiting them here I would be lying. From the project-partner-with-the-one-you-hate bit to Sasuke's IhateherNoShe'sCuteWaitWHAT?!, to the many damsel in distress scenarios that I have put in here so far (and to the ones I have planned), this story is an exaggeration of the drama that exists in the life of an adolescent. I love writing this story and making it as ridiculous as can be; and I think I should have warned you earlier that it was not to be taken too seriously. It is merely a telling of the events in the lives of growing adolescents that (unfortunately for them) must face the many ass-backwards situations I gleefully put them in.

As of now, I have no plans as to how I'm going to end this story; just that it will be a lunatic, crazy ride right to the last chapter. Our beloved Hinata will be faced with much, but no fear, she will persevere.

Thank you to all that enjoy this story, it is because of you I write. Please leave a review, I cannot stress enough how much a nonsensical rant about this chapter (or any, really) can make my day.

Cheers to you, my lovely readers.


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